Pure Chaos
by Master Porky Minch
Summary: A story I'm making based off of custom cards I've made/am making. Contains custom cards.
1. Pure Chaos

**Pure Chaos**

**Author's Note: Just a couple of things that I wanted to explain before we start this one. I created this story as a sort of "proof of concept" as it were, for an RP or a story that I've been wanting to do for a while now. I may do more with this, depending on how things go and how busy I may or may not be.**

**Secondly and most importantly, this story contains Custom cards made by yours truly. With a certain online dueling simulator now allowing users to make and use their own custom cards, getting to test them out and see how a Deck of them would do in a duel is a lot easier now. With that being said, if you don't like custom cards, or just want to see only real cards be used, I strongly recommend you back out of this story now.**

**With all of that said, if you're still here, despite how I made the custom cards used in this story, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, all rights reserved for Konami, play card games, all that good stuff.**

**BEGIN!**

"Jason…? Jason!"

The young man almost gave a bit of a scream as he was rudely awoken from his nap through the calling and poking from the left side of him, his head shooting up from the desk that, while not very comfortable to lean down on, did give him a good enough position to lay his head down on, especially with his open textbook being used as a pillow of sorts.

When he was now fully awake, blinking a little bit to get some of the remaining drowsiness out of his eyes, he slowly turned his head to the left, seeing one of his best friends, Frederick Calverson, sitting next to him and smirking at him, clearly trying not to laugh. He was a short man with darker skin, and a full head of long, curly black hair.

"For Christ's sake, man. Those pages are gonna be swimming in that book if you keep drooling on them like that."

"Uhhhh…" Jason started slowly as he brought his eyes down to the desk he sat by. It was indeed true. The page he was on in the textbook had a large puddle of his saliva soaking the page. "Oh… crap." With no other ideas, he simply took a part of his shirt with his hand and began trying to wipe up the page as well as he could, while also trying not to do so too hard, so as not to rip the page. He didn't need to deal with the extra fees of returning a rented textbook that had a massive hole in the middle of one of the pages.

"Honestly. I don't like listening to someone lecture me in words I don't understand, but falling asleep in the middle of class?" Frederick whispered a bit to Jason with a snicker. "You're lucky you have me here to wake you up before the class ends."

"Give me a break." Jason muttered back as he gave a little stretch before leaning a bit over. "I didn't sleep very well last night… the freaking dog kept me up all night with her whimpering and whining during last night's storm. Like, seriously, she thinks she's the only one afraid of the lightning? I sleep on the top floor, so how does she think I feel with all that wind and lightning?"

"You know she can't help it. She's just a dog." Frederick answered with a roll of his eyes. "She's not going to stop being scared of storms just because you tell her-"

"¡Señor Frederick! ¡Señor Jason!" came the voice of their Spanish professor, who was standing at the board, her eyes looking irritated at the two friends. "¡No hablen entre ustedes cuando yo estoy enseñado!" Neither of the two really understood everything she said, but the two could tell by the tone of her voice that she was telling them to be quiet.

The lecture only lasted a couple more minutes before the class period was finally over, and all of the students got up and began to pack their things to go. Jason slowly stood up, stretching again and fixing his dirty blonde hair, which was standing up in a number of places due to his nap. He fixed it as much as he could before he went and followed Frederick out the door.

He went to the bathroom quick, both to relieve himself, but also to make sure that his hair wasn't too messed up before he went back outside to the public. As he looked in the mirror, he noticed that his skin, which normally had a very light tan to it, appeared to be a bit paler than usual. Though he quickly dismissed that to him just being tired. He fixed his hair as much as he could before meeting up with Frederick again outside the building, and the two began to walk together.

"It's not like the dog and the storm mattered anyway." Frederick began to say again once the two of them were able to start their earlier conversation once again. "You would have probably stayed up until 2 or 3 in the morning anyway, playing Duel Monsters online as always."

"Hey. Excuse me for enjoying the night life, alright?" Jason retorted, but realized quickly that saying that only reinforced what Frederick had just said. "...I mean… gah. Just shut up, Fred."

"There. Ya see?" Frederick asked with a snicker and a shake of his head. "It's not your dog's fault at all. You're just a complete moron that doesn't know how to go to bed and wake up at a proper time."

Jason simply gave a little scoff and looked at Frederick with a raise of his eyebrows. "So how's that throwing stones in a glass house thing going, Mr. Academic Probation?"

"Oh, don't even go there." Frederick said with a little shove at Jason's side. Jason was barely steered even a bit, given how he was quite a bit taller than his friend. "I told you, that wasn't my fault. I kept telling my boss that I needed to have my hours accommodate my school schedule, but he wouldn't budge. He somehow thought that flipping burgers and frying fries was much more important than my education… besides, that was just the first semester. You'll find that now I'm at a good standing."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say." Jason chuckled before he gave a little slap to his own, quite bulged belly. "Speaking of frying things, where are we going for lunch? I'm starving!"

"That's just typical. The one thing you actually look forward to when it comes to school days: food." Frederick said with a little chuckle and a shake of his head as the two continued to walk. They decided to head out of the university for lunch today. While Frederick really didn't mind what he ate on a daily basis, Jason was always peculiar about eating something different, or at least somewhere different, everyday.

As they were going through the Center of the Arts building on the university, which was the place where all of the classes such as band, choir and theater take place, going through there as a sort of shortcut to get outside the university, they came across what appeared to be a crowd of people, in the middle of them being a tall man, about half a foot taller than Jason, with black hair and a beard, holding up a Duel Monsters card before the crowd.

"Yo, Fred. Take a look at that." Jason said, pointing towards the crowd, specifically the person in the middle.

"Oh… great. It's Mal." Frederick muttered under his breath. "...Of all the times he could have possibly shown up, he has to be here while we're passing through." Jason didn't make a response as he looked at the man, both interested in him and the card he was holding.

Malcolm Alexson, known throughout the university as "Mal the Monster", was quite the infamous student in the university. He was known mostly for two things, the first being the fact that he could be quite the jerk when he wanted to be. He was always seen with a group of friends, pushing around the smaller students in the university, which tended to be a lot of them, due to his height.

The second thing he was known for, however, was his supposed prowess as a duelist. He had grown quite the name for himself for the number of students he'd beaten. The number of them being so many that many rumors spread that Mal was undefeated. While some students had claimed that they beat him during a duel that nobody else watched, they had no evidence to back this up, and considering the fact that Mal always liked to duel in front of a crowd, the chances of him accepting a duel without one were unlikely.

"Come on… let's go down the longer path so we don't have to deal with that prick." Frederick said as he grabbed Jason by the arm and began trying to drag him away.

"Now hang on a minute there." Jason said as he yanked his arm away, his eyes still fixed on Mal and the card he held. "...This guy's one of the best known duelists in this whole university… I reckon that he would probably have quite a bit of knowledge on this game, wouldn't he?"

"Well… I guess so, but…" Frederick started. He stopped speaking, however, when he saw a little smile slowly form on Jason's face, his hand practically already reaching into his backpack. "...Oh no. No no no no no."

"What? What's the matter?" Jason questioned without even looking at Frederick.

"Jason, I know that look in your eyes. And the answer is no. You are not going to go over there and start talking to him. Let alone try to duel him."

"Aw, come on, Fred. You know how much I love a close duel. If this guy is really half as good as they say he is, he'll be a really great challenge, maybe even a good friend for us."

"Him? A friend?! You've completely lost it, Jason. If you really think that someone like him would think of you as anything but-" Frederick only stopped speaking when he had noticed that Jason was already starting to squeeze and shove his way past the rest of the crowd. "Jason!"

As Jason approached the center of the crowd, he was beginning to hear more of what Mal was talking about. He started hearing how he had won that card from a game against some person who was so bad at the game that he had to resort to cards revolving around taking his to stand a chance. And even then, he didn't stand a chance. Hearing this only excited Jason more. It was gonna be a perfect match!

"Uhhh… excuse me." Jason finally called out when he managed to squirm his way up to Mal.

The moment that Mal stopped talking and turned to face him, just about the entire area went silent. If it weren't for the sound of the marching band rehearsing in their classroom, one could hear a pin drop among the crowd of people. All eyes were fixed on both the man who initially had the spotlight all to himself, and the one that so dared to interrupt him.

"...Well, what do we have here?" Mal questioned with a little scoff, smirking, despite the fact that he was obviously irritated. "...Not many fools here have the balls to interrupt the Mighty Mal the Monster while he's speaking."

"Uhhh… yeah. Sorry about that. Didn't mean to interrupt your… little show n' tell, or whatever it is you've got going on here." Jason answered back.

The crowd reacted with gasps and a couple of "oohs", while some of them began to whisper amongst themselves, discussing what Mal was going to do to him.

"...A smart ass, are we?" Mal questioned as he took a step forward, his grin having turned into an ominous frown. "Or maybe you're just too dumb to know better than to talk to me like that."

"N-no disrespect meant…" Jason stammered a bit, now suddenly feeling a little bit nervous. Suddenly, he was beginning to think that he should have just kept going with Frederick for lunch. "...I… just heard a lot about… how good you duel on this campus… and… I was wondering if… maybe I could interest you in… a round with me?"

The crowd seemed to have some mixed reactions as to what Jason had just said, some of them whispering amongst themselves as to whether or not he was serious, while some others gave a few quiet laughs at what he just said.

Mal was silent for a few seconds before he backed off a bit, his serious, threatening scowl turning into a little grin before he began to laugh a little bit. With how scared Jason seemed to be, he began to think that he was just pulling some elaborate joke. "Heh… and here I thought that you had a deathwish or something." he said. "Alright. Who set you up to this? Zach? Carl? Ohh. Don't tell me it was Tommy. Big oaf is always trying to get excuses to rough some idiots up."

"I… I wasn't… uhhh…" Jason started as he looked around desperately, just waiting at this point for Frederick to come along and rescue him from this awkward situation. He felt so embarrassed to be doing this in front of all of those people, and both Mal and the crowd could see that, earning more laughs at his expense.

"Hahahaha! A real joker here." Mal chortled before smirking again. "I'll tell you what. Since you gave me such a good laugh, I'll let you off easy this time. Maybe I'll even let you buy me a beer after all my classes today."

"Come on, Jason!" came Frederick's voice as he was finally able to make his way through the crowd as well. "I told you, this guy isn't worth our time. He's not gonna duel you. Let's just go before you embarrass yourself even more."

Jason gave a little shudder and a nod as he looked at Frederick. While he wouldn't really listen to Frederick at any other point, he just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible at that point. So he began to follow Frederick out, dreading the earload that he knew Frederick was going to give him as soon as they were out of the building.

"Hey. Hold on a minute." Mal suddenly said before the two friends disappeared back into the crowd, causing both of them to stop and turn back to Mal, who was now looking at Jason a bit more seriously.

"...He just called you Jason, right…? As in… "Jason Titan" Jason?"

"You… you know of me?" Jason questioned, earning a facepalm from Frederick, who just wanted Jason to stop talking now.

"...Yeah… I've heard about you." Mal said as he smiled and began to get a bit closer to Jason again. This time, it wasn't threatening, but more out of genuine curiosity, if not also with a slight glint of opportunism in it. "...In fact, there are quite a number of people in this school talking about how you have some very special cards, ones that nobody else in this university has."

"Well… I mean, I don't know if that's such a big deal, but…" Jason started, scratching his head a little bit as the conversation was beginning to help him ease up once again. "...Yeah, I guess those are kind of true."

"...You don't say." Mal gave a little hmph and stepped a bit back. "...Tell you what, Jason. Maybe I spoke a little too soon… how about we have that duel that you wanted?"

Jason was silent for a few seconds as he took what was just said in. One moment, Mal looked as if he was ready to stick a knife in him for making a potentially snarky remark, and now he was suddenly interested in taking up that duel.

Despite the previous fear and awkwardness, the thought of a duel instantly made Jason excited once again. "Really?! That's… that's awesome!" he said as he took his backpack to the ground as he knelt down, hurriedly opening it to retrieve his duel disk and deck. "Alright, let me just get my Deck here, and then we can-"

"Hold on just a second." Mal commanded, making Jason stop again. "...I don't duel chumps just for sport, you know… what say you and I make things a little more interesting?"

"Interesting?" Jason questioned as he slowly stood back up. "...What did you have in mind?"

"A simple wager is all. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. We both ante something up on the line. Such as… a card. The winner keeps all, losers weepers."

"Oh… so a bet of sorts, huh?" Jason questioned as he looked up in thought. This was the first time that he was ever meeting Mal, and he had no idea what his Deck was like, so he wasn't exactly sure what exactly he would want as his prize.

"...Ok then. In that case, if I win, you give me that card that you were just showing to everybody else."

"Fine by me. Not that you'll win anyway." Mal answered. "And if you lose… you give me the most valuable card in your Deck."

"My rarest card…? But I have so many amazing cards in this Deck… I couldn't possibly be able to pick which out of them I think is my most important."

"Fine then. Then I'll make it a bit easier on you. If I win, I'll just take your Deck."

"Y-you've gotta be kidding me!" Frederick exclaimed in shock. "All he's asking for is one lousy card, and you're going to bet his entire Deck on that?! You should be wagering your own Deck as well if you're going to be crazy enough in thinking he would actually agree to that!"

Jason gave a hum and looked at his backpack before looking back at Mal. It was clear that the larger duelist was very confident in his skills. It was almost intimidating… the ultimate question, then, was whether or not Jason had the same confidence in both his skills as a duelist and in the cards in his deck to be able to pull it off.

"...Alright then. You gotta deal." Jason said. "You win, you keep my Deck."

"Jason! You moron!" Frederick shrieked in a shrill voice.

"Perfect! Then it's settled then." Mal said before setting his own backpack down and looking at the crowd. "...I said it's settled then! Make some room for us to duel!" The crowd immediately dispersed, but stayed around the area, taking seats and eagerly watching, talking about how foolish Jason was and wagering how many Life Points Mal would still have by the end of the duel. Frederick had also left to give the duelists plenty of space, cursing Jason under his breath and telling him how much he better win that game.

"I hope you realize what a big mistake you made in challenging me." Mal said confidently as he got his duel disk out of his backpack and attached it to his wrist, activating it and placing his deck into it. "You at least know how to play the game, right?"

"Don't worry. I'll be sure that I won't disappoint you." Jason answered as he also took his duel disk and placed his deck in them. Once both of them had their Life Points set to 8000, each of them drew their initial hand of 5 cards. Once everything was set up, there was only one thing left, as both of them looked at each other and locked eyes with the other.

"LET'S DUEL!"

"Since I want to make this humiliation as quick for you as possible, I'll go ahead and make the first move." Mal said as he looked at his opening hand and gave a smirk. "And it looks like I'm starting with exactly the card I was hoping for." He took one of his cards and put it in the Spell/Trap Zone. "I activate the Spell Card, One Day of Peace!"

"One Day of Peace?" Jason questioned.

"Surely you aren't going to tell me you don't know of this card." Mal said with a snicker. "With this card, both of us are allowed to draw one card from our Deck. Consider it both a gift for you, and a way of making up for me not drawing a card on the first turn."

Jason didn't say a word in response, but simply followed Mal's lead, both of them drawing one card and adding it to their Hand. "I think that will do just nicely. Go on ahead and make your move."

"Wait, your ending your turn already?" Jason asked in surprise. "But you don't have any cards on your side of the Field. You're leaving your Life Points completely open."

"Of course I'm not, you moron. My Life Points are completely safe, even if I don't have any Monsters or face-down cards to protect them." Mal answered. "You really mean to tell me you don't know about One Day of Peace?"

"Jason!" Frederick called out, getting his friend's attention. "When One Day of Peace is activated, neither player takes any damage until the end of the opponent's next turn!"

"I see now. Even if I attack him this turn, he's not going to take any damage…" Jason said as he looked back at Mal. "...Alright then. If I can't damage you this turn, I'll just have to find some other way to take control of this duel. My move!"

Jason drew his card and looked at all of the cards in his Hand. He couldn't help but give a little bit of a frown. His opening hand wasn't really giving him a whole lot to work with. Despite this, he was able to discover one thing he could do that turn. It wouldn't be a major game maker, but perhaps it could be just enough to get him on top for the time being.

"...Looks like I don't have very much I can do." Jason said as he looked up at Mal. "I'm going to have to skip my turn this time."

"Jason!" Frederick yelled, his eyes wide and his jaw almost to the floor. "That's not the way you want to be starting a duel!"

"How sad. And here I thought you were going to be a challenge." Mal sneered with a shake of his head and a low chuckle. "But you can't end your turn just yet. In case you didn't realize, thanks to my One Day of Peace, you now have 7 cards in your Hand. During the End Phase, if you have more than 6 cards in your Hand, the hand size limit kicks in, and you have to discard cards until you have exactly 6."

"I'm well aware of that." Jason answered before giving a little smile. "As a matter of fact, I was banking on just that." Hearing these words, Mal was taken a bit by surprised, especially when he saw Jason smiling, as if he had just heard exactly what he wanted to hear. "I'm actually very glad I have to discard 1 card. For you see, one of the cards in my Hand, the one I'm going to discard this turn, just so happens to be my Kidmodo Dragon."

"I get it!" Frederick exclaimed as he heard that. "When Kidmodo Dragon is sent to the Graveyard, Jason gets to Special Summon any Dragon-Type Monster he wants from his Hand, at the cost of not being able to conduct his Battle Phase during the turn its effect is activated!"

"And since I'm already in my End Phase anyway, and I can't damage your Life Points anyway, I'm essentially summoning a Dragon-Type Monster to my side of the Field at no charge." Jason finished as he sent his Kidmodo Dragon to the Graveyard. "And it's going to be quite a beefy one at that. I'm using my Kidmodo Dragon's effect in order to Special Summon, from my Hand, my Pure Chaos Dragon, in Attack Mode!"

He took a card from his Hand and placed it into the Monster Zone, a hologram appearing of a large dragon with dark gray and dark blue scales, and piercing red eyes. The information of the Monster showed it to be a Level 8 DARK Dragon, with 3000 ATK and 3000 DEF.

"Pure Chaos Dragon, huh?" Mal questioned as he looked at the Dragon-Type Monster that he had never seen nor heard of before. "I take it that's one of your special cards, is it?"

"Maybe so." Jason answered back with a little confident smile. "You want my special cards so bad, it's only fair that you get to see them in action first."

"_Jason just summoned a Monster with 3000 ATK on his very first turn._" Frederick thought to himself as he watched on. "_Maybe he'll actually have a chance at winning this duel after all…_"

"Heh. How cute. Though perhaps you're not as dumb as I initially thought you were." Mal said confidently. "But don't get your hopes up. That Dragon isn't going to save you, no matter how many Attack Points it may have. And you'll see that soon enough. My turn!"

Mal drew his card and looked at his Hand before giving a little grin. Everything was coming along just perfectly for him.

"First, I'm activating the Continuous Spell Card, Supply Squad!" he shouted as he played his Spell Card. "Once per turn, when a Monster of mine is destroyed, by battle or by any card effects, I get to draw 1 card. Next, I'll set one Monster and one other card face-down. That ends my turn."

"Then it's my turn. Let's see what we got this time!" Jason said as he drew a card from his Deck and looked at his Hand. He gave a little frown and a bit of a growl. He had some good cards in his Hand, but he didn't have everything he needed to play them yet. There wasn't anything in his Hand that he was able to activate just yet.

"...Well, I may not be able to do very much with these cards, but I still have the high ATK power of my Pure Chaos Dragon to use." Jason announced as he pointed to Mal's face-down. "Pure Chaos Dragon! Attack his face-down Monster now! Chaos Dragon Fire!"

After taking in a deep breath, the dragon let out a proud, powerful roar as a blast of dark purple fire was released from its gaping mouth, heading straight for Mal's face-down Monster.

"Hang on just a minute!" Mal yelled. "Before your attack lands, I'm going to be activating my Trap Card! Say hello to my Human-Wave Tactics Trap Card!" The hologram of the face-down in his Spell/Trap Zone flipped up, revealing the Continuous Trap Card. "As long as this card is face-up on my side of the Field, during each End Phase, I can Special Summon any Level 2 or lower Normal Monsters straight from my Deck, equal to the number of Level 2 or lower Normal Monsters that were destroyed as a result of battle this turn."

"Fine, but that does nothing to stop my attack. My Pure Chaos Dragon's attack continues unimpeded!" Just as Jason had said, the attack went on unimpeded. And the Monster that was set on Mal's side of the Field, Charcoal Impachi, was destroyed.

"Since you destroyed my Charcoal Impachi, my Supply Squad activates, allowing me to draw one card from my Deck." Mal reminded as he drew one card from his Deck. "Thank you for the free draw."

Jason gave a little irritated growl. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to get very much of anything done without giving Mal more advantage. "...I guess my turn is over then."

"Not quite. It doesn't end until my Human-Wave Tactics is resolved during the End Phase." Mal corrected. "So, since you destroyed my Charcoal Impachi during this turn, from my Deck, I'll Special Summon my D.D. Trainer from my Deck in Defense Mode." He took the Fiend Monster out from his Deck and played it in Defense Mode.

"Now, with that out of the way, I'll draw." Mal said as he drew a card before setting another Monster and one card in his Spell/Trap Zone. "And with those two face-down cards, I'll go ahead and end my turn now."

Jason just stared at Mal quietly for a few seconds. He wasn't doing very much of anything at all… what was he planning? Jason didn't want to find out, and drew his card from his Deck. Once again, nothing much he could use, but now he had to at least set something, or else he would have to discard another card from his Hand.

"I'll set one card face-down." he said simply as he set one card in his Spell/Trap Zone. "Then I'll have my Pure Chaos Dragon attack your face-down Monster! Chaos Dragon Fire!"

"Hold it right there!" Mal said. "Before you attack, I'm going to activate my Trap Card! The League of Uniform Nomenclature! This handy Trap card allows me to select any Normal Monster on my side of the Field, and Special Summon as many copies of that Monster from my Deck, as long as that selected Monster has a Level of 2 or lower. So I'll select my Level 1 D. D. Trainer, in order to Special Summon 2 more copies of it!"

Jason remained quiet as he watched what happened. Two more high defense Monsters… was Mal just trying to stall him out? That couldn't have been the case. If decking Jason out was really the aim, he would have been drawing and playing cards from his Deck a lot less than he was. "No matter. I'll continue my attack on your face-down Defense Monster!"

The attack went off, and Jason destroyed the face-down Monster, which was an Oppressed People. "And I'll go ahead and draw another card." Mal said as the effect of his Supply Squad activated. He drew a card and gave a smirk. "And now, at the end of your turn, my Human-Wave Tactics activates again. This time, I'll be bringing my second Charcoal Impachi from my Deck to my Field."

Jason gave a little frown as he watched the Monster appear on Mal's side of the Field. Mal drew his card to start his turn and said, "Now, with that out of the way, it's my turn… and it looks like this duel is about to end, Jason. I'm about to bring out the Monster that's going to wipe the floor with you."

"Somehow I doubt that." Jason said. "You've been speaking all this time about how much you're going to humiliate me and defeat me, and yet throughout this entire duel, the only thing you've been doing is Summoning Level 1 Monsters with high DEF, all of which don't have nearly enough strength in stopping my Pure Chaos Dragon. They pose no threat to me or my Monster."

"Is that what you think?" Mal questioned before giving a laugh. "Don't you know an unstoppable strategy when you see one right in front of your face? And I had given you credit on your first turn about not being a complete moron… oh well. I suppose you not knowing what's coming is going to make this all the sweeter for me."

"Oh, I don't like the sounds of that…" Frederick commented as he shuddered a little bit. Jason was in full agreement. Based on how cocky Mal seemed, he had a feeling that he wasn't just pulling his leg.

"In order to Special Summon this Monster from my Hand, the one that will win me the duel, I must first send 4 Level 1 Monsters on my side of the Field to the Graveyard." Mal said with a near sinister grin. "And I just so happen to have everything I need on the Field. So now, I send my 3 D. D. Trainers and my Charcoal Impachi from my Field to the Graveyard."

Jason watched with anticipation as the four Monsters disappeared from his side of the Field. Once all of them were in the Graveyard, a very strong wind began to blow from the center of Mal's side of the Field, almost threatening to blow Jason over.

"Jason! This duel is over! Watch now as I summon my ultimate Monster! The one that specializes in crushing chumps like you that dare to challenge me! The ultimate Fiend Monster: Dystopia the Despondent!"

Everyone watched in shock and some terror as, from the ground in front of Mal, a gigantic Fiend Monster began to rise up, covered on the top of its head, shoulders and back in a metallic cobalt blue, while the rest of its skin was an ugly, seemingly withered brown color, and a set of glowing red eyes revealed from a face completely shrouded in darkness.

Jason took a step back in terror, not just at the gargantuan appearance of the Monster, but at the stats that were being displayed to him. "5000 ATK and DEF Points?!" he exclaimed.

"That's right, Jason. And you're about to feel them all in action." Mal sneered as he pointed at the Pure Chaos Dragon. "Go, Dystopia! Crush his pathetic dragon and bring this duel to me, where it belongs!"

Obediently, the large Fiend Monster's eyes glowed red, and from its entire body came a black and blue blast of dark energy towards the dragon. It encased the Pure Chaos Dragon, who gave out a roar of agony before the hologram shattered into pieces. Jason growled in pain as he covered himself a bit from the oncoming gale of wind produced by the force of the blast, bringing his Life Points down to 6000.

"Heheheh. How do you like that, Jason?" Mal questioned with a smirk and a cross of his arms. "Does it make you realize just how small you really are, to be facing down such a powerful beast, and having absolutely no ways of protecting yourself from it?"

"That's why he kept summoning nothing but Level 1 Monsters." Frederick muttered with a little growl. "He was setting the Field up so that he could summon his most powerful Monster to the Field… and with 5000 ATK and DEF, Jason's gonna have a real hard time getting over that."

Jason gave a little growl. As much as he didn't like to admit it, Frederick had a point. Getting over something with that kind of power wasn't going to be an easy task. If he wanted to have a chance at winning this duel, and not losing his whole Deck, he would have to make something happen now. "You may have your Dystopia out on the Field, but I'm not out of this game just yet." he said as he drew his card.

He looked at the card as soon as he drew it, his eyes widening a little bit. Perhaps dealing with that Dystopia wasn't going to be so hard after all. "I'll set one card face-down and end my turn." Jason said as he put one card in his Spell/Trap Zone. "Go ahead and make your move, Mal."

"Oh, it'll be my pleasure. And you're gonna be wishing I couldn't." Mal said as he drew one card and pointed to Jason. "Now, Dystopia the Despondent! Attack Jason directly now!"

Obediently, the Fiend Monster released another blast of energy, this time aiming directly at Jason. Everyone that was watching braced themselves for the upcoming attack that was coming Jason's way.

"I was waiting for you to do that. Now it's time you say goodbye to your precious Dystopia!" Jason yelled. "Reveal Trap Card! Mirror Force!" The Trap Card flipped face up and revealed a Mirror Force, stopping the attack of Dystopia in its place by a reflective Field.

"This handy Trap card activates when you try to declare an attack. When you do, this Trap Card destroys all Monsters you control that are in Attack Position! And since your Dystopia the Despondent is in Attack Position, it's going to be destroyed by my Trap Card!"

"Alright!" Frederick cheered. "Way to play, Jason!"

The attack of Dystopia was reflected, turning into several small beams of rainbow light that began to head right towards Dystopia. "Adios, Dystopia!" Jason said happily.

"Fine move… but all for not." Mal said with a grin. Just before the rainbow light hit Dystopia, a bright light appeared on the floor right in front of Dystopia. From it, a Charcoal Impachi rose up from the ground, holding its arms in a guarding position in front of itself.

"Gah! What in the-" Jason exclaimed in shock as he watched as the rainbow lights, which were supposed to hit Dystopia and destroy it, instead hit the Charcoal Impachi, causing it to disappear, but leaving Dystopia the Despondent completely untouched.

"Where did that Charcoal Impachi come from?!" Frederick asked in disbelief. "That Dystopia should have been destroyed!"

"And with almost any other Monster, you might have actually succeeded. However, my Dystopia isn't any other Monster. And it has a special ability just for tactics like that. Once per Battle Step, all I have to do is banish one Level 1 Monster from my Graveyard, and until the end of the Damage Step, my Dystopia the Despondent is unaffected by any other card effects, as well as being protected from battle destruction."

"Th-that's insane!" Jason yelled in shock.

"Oh, and I'm not done yet, Jason." Mal said with a grin. "Since my Dystopia wasn't destroyed by your Mirror Force, his attack continues right where it left off. Now, Dystopia! Continue on your attack! Crush Jason now!"

With no more interruptions, and with Jason out of options to stop the attack, Dystopia fired another blast of dark energy at Jason. The attack hit its mark, Jason giving out a shrill scream of pain as the full force of Dystopia's power struck him, bringing him down to 1000 Life Points in that one attack. The force of the attack was so great that it sent Jason hurling back a few feet.

"Jason!" Frederick yelled as he watched his friend be thrown to the ground from the strength of attack. A lot of people began to talk about how they knew this was going to happen, with one person even making the comment that Jason better start thinking of a new Deck to use once Mal takes the current one.

"Heheheh. Now you're finally right where you belong: laying down on the ground in front of me." Mal gloated with a smirk. "You now see just why nobody can stop my Dystopia. And thanks to your destroying of my Monsters from the earlier turns, I still have 5 Level 1 Monsters to banish should you try anything funny… not that it will matter anyway. I'll just set one card face down and end my turn. Now go ahead and make your last move so my Dystopia can end you next turn."

Jason was very slow to get up, his arms and legs practically shaking as he forced himself back onto his feet, his body smoking from the power that came with Dystopia's attack. He was starting to see why Mal was so infamous in the university. He had played Jason like a piano, helping him set up everything he needed to summon Dystopia and make it nearly invincible, and Jason didn't even realize it before it was too late.

"Hmhmhm. What's wrong? Scared to move? Or are you only now starting to realize just what a big mistake you made in challenging me?" Mal asked before laughing a little bit. "Well, since you've been so much of a good sport throughout this duel, maybe I'll make a deal with you. You surrender right here and now, and maybe, just maybe, I'll consider only taking the special cards out of your Deck, and leave you with all the rest."

"You… think I'm gonna back down now?" Jason questioned as he looked up at Mal. "That's not going to happen… I've come too far and put too much on the line to fold now… and even when things look their worst… I'm gonna see this duel to the end!"

"Heh. Then you're going to feel the full force of my Dystopia the Despondent at the end of your next turn." Mal said with a shrug before pointing at Jason. "Now hurry up and make your next move so I can end this duel."

"If anybody's going to be winning this duel… it's going to be me… it's time I get serious and turn this duel around!" Jason yelled as he looked at his Hand. He could see what he needed to do in his Hand. Almost everything that he required was gathered up in there… he just needed one last card to turn it all around.

"Come on, Deck… give me some gold here…" he silently prayed before he took ahold of the top card of his Deck, hoping harder than he ever had before that his Deck could pull through for him. "It's my move! I draw!"

He drew his card and looked at it, his eyes widening as he saw the card he just drew. "Heh… let me guess. You didn't draw a card you were hoping for, and now you realize just how useless all of your effort has been." Mal guessed with a little smirk. "If it makes you feel any better, you're not the first to lose to me. They don't call me 'Mal the Monster' for nothing."

"No… that's not the case at all." Jason said as he looked up at Mal, his face showing nothing but joy and confidence. "As a matter of fact… it's the complete opposite… I just drew exactly the card I wanted to turn this duel around."

"Ha! An obvious bluff!" Mal said as he pointed to Dystopia. "My Dystopia is much stronger than any other Monster you can play! And even if you did summon a stronger Monster, I still have 5 Level 1 Monsters in my Graveyard to be able to protect him! You can't defeat me!"

"Is that so…? Well, I wouldn't be so sure on that. Not when the card I drew…" Jason started as he stood tall and held up his card for Mal to see. "...Is my second Pure Chaos Dragon!"

"You moron! What's the point of showing me the card you just drew?!" Mal spat. "Besides, that card is absolutely useless. Even if you could summon it, it only has 3000 ATK and DEF, far too few to hurt my Dystopia!"

"By himself, he may not be strong enough to defeat your Dystopia… but he's not going to be alone. Because I'm activating his special ability!" Jason said before he discarded it to the Graveyard. "You see, if I have my Pure Chaos Dragon in my Hand, I'm allowed to discard him, and add 1 Spellcaster-Type Monster from my Deck to my Hand."

"Ha! Going to trade in one puny Monster for another one? How pathetic." Mal mocked. "Now hurry up and end your turn so I can end this duel."

"I'm not done yet. Not by a long shot." Jason retorted as he took a card from his Deck. "I discard my Pure Chaos Dragon in order to add 1 Spellcaster-Type Monster from my Deck to my Hand! But she's not going to stay in there very long, because I'm playing her right now. Say hello to my Messenger of Pure Chaos! In Attack Mode!"

He played the Monster on his duel disk, and she appeared on his side of the Field; a Level 4 DARK Spellcaster with 1600 ATK and 1200 DEF. Her hair was a gray color, and she was covered entirely in a long black dress and gloves, and had a pair of black wings like those of an angel.

"The messenger is always the first one to be sent out, with the job of receiving and delivering important messages. So it is with my Messenger of Pure Chaos. In order to activate her Special Ability, I need to Normal Summon her to my side of the Field while I control no other Pure Chaos Monsters. And since that's been satisfied, my Messenger of Pure Chaos allows me to add any Pure Chaos Ritual Monster, or Chaotic Ritual from my Deck to my Hand."

"Pure Chaos Ritual Monsters?" Mal questioned as he watched as Jason took out his Deck again in order to search for one of the aforementioned cards.

"As I told you earlier, if you're gonna be wanting these Pure Chaos Monsters of mine, it's only fair that you get to see what they do firsthand." Jason said as he put his deck back in once he found the card he was looking for. "I use my Messenger's effect to add my Chaotic Ritual from my Deck to my Hand. But don't worry, I won't let you stand there and wonder what exactly it does all day. In fact, I'll go ahead and activate it now!"

Mal watched on in surprise as Jason put the card that he had just added to his Hand into the Spell/Trap Zone. "Now, I activate my Ritual Card! Chaotic Ritual!" When the card was activated, the area in front of Jason, where his Monsters were displayed by the holograms, began to warp and distort, an array of many colors appearing from the distorted area.

"Chaotic Ritual is quite different from all of the other Ritual Cards you may be familiar with. So listen closely, because it may get complicated." Jason instructed. "My Chaotic Ritual allows me to Ritual Summon any Pure Chaos Ritual Monster I hold in my Hand. However, rather than having to only sacrifice any number of Monsters whose total levels is greater than or equal to the Ritual Monster's Level, my Chaotic Ritual requires me to send at least 2 Monsters to the Graveyard, including at least 1 LIGHT Monster and at least 1 DARK Monster."

"That's quite the steep requirement, chump." Mal said. "I just hope that whatever you plan on summoning is gonna be worth that."

"Oh, trust me. It is." Jason answered with a smirk as he took his Messenger of Pure Chaos from his field and one card from his Hand. "For this Chaotic Ritual, I'm going to be sending from my Field, my Level 4 Messenger of Pure Chaos as the DARK Monster, and my Level 8 Sorceress of Pure Chaos for the LIGHT Monster from my Hand."

Jason gave a little smile as a shape began to take form in the distortion. "Both Monsters provide just enough to make a Level 12 Ritual Monster. Now, from the merging of darkness and light together comes chaos in its purest form! Arise now, from the darkness and light! Dragon Soul of Pure Chaos!"

The distortion finally ceased as, in the space where it had taken place, a new Monster appeared in its place. It was a pitch black dragon, with three pairs of bone white horns on its head, and several areas of white, bonelike spikes protruding from its body, along with crimson red eyes that burned with great power. Riding on top of this dragon was a cloaked sorcerer with a long scepter that flashed with purple lightning. The Dragon gave a loud, powerful roar as the information was shown: A DARK, Level 12 Dragon-Type Monster with 5000 ATK and DEF.

"His Dragon Soul of Pure Chaos…" Frederick said in amazement as he looked at the new Monster. "...Now he has a Monster on his side of the Field that's just as strong as Mal's Dystopia the Despondent."

"Not a bad move, Jason. I'll give you that." Mal said with a little shrug and a shake of his head. "But aren't you forgetting something? Since both of our Monsters have 5000 ATK and DEF Points, they'll both be destroyed if you attack with your new Monster. And while your Dragon Soul of Pure Chaos will have no ways of protecting itself from destruction, all I'll have to do is remove another one of my Level 1 Monsters from my Graveyard from play, and I can protect my Dystopia."

"_Oh man… Mal is right…_" Frederick thought to himself as he looked at the state of the duel. "_Jason should have put his Dragon Soul of Pure Chaos into Defense Mode. That way, he wouldn't be destroyed when Dystopia attacks, and can protect Jason until he finds a way around it._"

"Trust me. I'm well aware that your Dystopia still has the advantage over my Dragon Soul of Pure Chaos. That's why my turn still isn't done yet." Jason said.

"What was that?" Mal asked in shock. He had already just summoned a Monster with 5000 ATK onto the Field. "What more is there for you to do?!"

"First and foremost, I have the ability of my Sorceress of Pure Chaos to activate." Jason explained. "When my Sorceress of Pure Chaos is used for the Ritual Summon of a Pure Chaos Ritual Monster, she allows me to add 1 Chaotic Ritual from my Deck or Graveyard to my Hand. I'll use her ability to add another Chaotic Ritual from my Deck to my Hand." He added the Ritual Card to his hand and put his Deck back in place. "So now that I've got it in my Hand, why should the fun of summoning stop here? Let's activate this one too!"

"What?! You're doing another Ritual Summon?!" Mal exclaimed as he watched Jason activate another Chaotic Ritual.

"That's right. I've got another Ritual Monster in my Hand that I want to Summon. This time, for my first Monster, I'll be looking into my Deck for one."

"What do you mean, looking into your Deck?!"

"Oh? Did I forget to mention that part of my Ritual Card?" Jason questioned. "My Chaotic Ritual doesn't only have an extra restriction of what kind of Monsters need to be used for the Ritual Summon. It also has a way to make meeting those requirements much easier. Rather than only restricting me to using Monsters on my Field and in my Hand for the Tributes, my Chaotic Ritual allows me to send Monsters from my Hand, Field, and Deck for the Ritual Summon."

"You can't be serious!" Mal yelled. "A card that allows you to Ritual Summon using Monsters from anywhere that isn't the Graveyard?! That's impossible!"

"Is it, now? Well we'll just have to see for ourselves. Because the first Monster I'm using as the DARK Monster is my Level 2 Pure Chaos Dragon Whelp from my Deck." Jason said as he took one card from his deck and placed it in the Graveyard before putting his Deck back and taking a card out of his Hand. "And for my next Monster, I'll be using my Level 8 Pure Chaos Spirit Drake for my LIGHT Monster."

Once again, a new Monster began to form from a distorted space to the left of Dragon Soul of Pure Chaos. "10 Levels may be a couple over the 8 Level Ritual Monster I'm about to summon, but when it comes to Rituals, it's better to be a little over than under." Jason said with a shrug and a chuckle. "And now, I'm Ritual Summoning another member of my Pure Chaos Ritual Team. Say hello to the Level 8 Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos!"

The distortion ended and revealed the Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos, a woman with a long spear in her hand, with long flowing brown hair. She wore a helmet of gold on her head, and very light armor that left her stomach and the lower part of her cleavage bare. She also had several red ribbons attached to her armor on her wrists and back, flowing like her hair. Her information appeared, showing her to be a Level 8 LIGHT Spellcaster with 2000 ATK and 3000 DEF.

"And just so you know, the summoning doesn't stop there either." Jason said with a little smirk as he took his Deck out once again. "Since I Special Summoned a LIGHT Pure Chaos Monster to my side of the Field, I'm allowed to Special Summon this next card from my Hand or my Deck. So for my next and final Monster for this duel, please give a warm welcome to my Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos!"

A portal of light appeared just in between Dragon Queen and Dragon Soul, and from it leapt out a lion-like creature covered in shining gold armor, with talons like those of a bird at the end of his arms rather than paws, a very long lion's tail, flowing white hair, and two wings like that of an eagle. Despite appearing more of a Beast than anything, its information showed it to be a LIGHT Level 6 Dragon-Type Monster, with 2300 ATK and 1200 DEF.

"When my Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos is Special Summoned by his own effect, I can add 1 Spell or Trap Card that specifically lists "Pure Chaos" from my Deck or Graveyard to my Hand. However, since I'm not going to be needing any other cards to defeat you, I'll go ahead and forego that ability."

"Heh… how impressive… two more weaker Monsters to add to the slaughter list of my Dystopia." Mal said. "Do the math. All of your Monsters are too puny to defeat my Dystopia. It'll crush them on my next turn and wipe out the rest of your Life Points."

"You actually think I wasn't paying attention? I wouldn't have put all my Monsters in Attack Mode if I wasn't sure whether or not they could defeat Dystopia. And it all starts with the special ability of my Dragon Queen." Jason explained. "You see, thanks to my Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos's special ability, she gains 500 ATK for every Dragon-Type Monster on my side of the Field and in my Graveyard."

"And he has two Dragon-Type Monsters on his side of the Field, and 5 in his Graveyard!" Frederick exclaimed. "That means his Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos gains 3500 ATK, putting her up to 5500! 500 more than Mal's Dystopia the Despondent!"

"So what! That doesn't matter." Mal reminded. "Don't forget that I still have 5 Level 1 Monsters in my Graveyard! I can just banish one of them to keep your skank from destroying my Dystopia!"

"Not for long, you won't. Not when I have this Spell card on my side." Jason answered back as he activated the card he had placed face-down the turn before his Pure Chaos Dragon was destroyed. "My Spell Card, Soul Release!"

"Oh no! Not Soul Release!" Mal exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes! That means that Jason can banish up to 5 cards from either of their Graveyards!" Frederick exclaimed.

"That's right. I usually keep this card in my Deck just in case I need to banish any problematic cards before my opponent can bring them back… but I guess banishing your Level 1 Monsters before you can will just have to do. I use this Spell card to banish your Oppressed People, your Charcoal Impachi, and your 3 D. D. Trainers from your Graveyard!"

Mal gave a growl as he watched as all of his remaining Level 1 Monsters in his Graveyard were banished from his Graveyard, taking away his ability to protect his Dystopia from battle and effects.

"Now with your Graveyard empty of your Level 1 Monsters, you have nothing that can keep your Dystopia safe from destruction. Now it's time for him, and you, to feel what it's like to be overpowered. Go, Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos! Send his Dystopia down to Hell where it belongs!"

With a little battle cry, Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos began to charge forward, holding her spear tight in hand as she charged forward against Dystopia. Everybody in the crowd watched anxiously, observing as it looked like Jason was about to destroy Mal's most powerful Monster.

"Hmhmhmhmhm… heheheheh… hahahahahahahahaha!" Mal began to laugh, as if he had just heard the best joke in his entire life. "You complete idiot! Did you really think I wouldn't be prepared for a situation like this?! I knew one day, someone would try to pull some trick like that! That's why I had this face-down card ready! My Quick Play Spell Card, Rush Recklessly!"

"Rush Recklessly?" Jason questioned.

"That's right, Jason! Since I can no longer use my Dystopia's ability to protect itself, I'll just use this card instead! I use this card to to give my Dystopia the Despondent 700 additional Attack Points until the end of this turn! Now my Dystopia is 200 points stronger than your Dragon Queen! Dystopia! Crush her!"

With an obedient roar, Dystopia raised its fist up and slammed it into the Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos before she could reach it. "No!" Frederick shouted in despair. "It can't be! He was so close to destroying that thing!"

"So close? He never had a chance! Not when I was fully prepared!" Mal laughed. "I told you that you wouldn't be able to defeat my Dystopia. And now, on my next turn, he'll destroy your pathetic Chimera, and win me not just this game, but also your Deck. You should have thought twice before deciding to challenge me."

Everybody looked at Jason, expecting to see nothing but despair and tears, but were surprised, instead to see nothing but a calm, collected smile on his face. "You may want to take a closer look." he said. Upon hearing this, Mal looked curiously at the field again.

Dragon Queen remained there, the fist of the mighty Fiend pressed against her. Rather that break apart and get destroyed, however, the Dragon Queen gave a little growl as she slowly turned her head just enough to look at the Fiend. She gave a loud cry as she pointed her spear at its chest, a green Chinese dragon forming out of pure light energy from her spear and towards Dystopia.

Dystopia gave a roar of pain as the dragon pierced its chest, breaking through the armor on its back and going completely through the monster. It slowly tried to reach for the dragon that was in its chest, but stopped and began to roar as its chest began to crack with light.

"What?!" Mal yelled in shock. "No! It can't be!"

"Oh, I'm afraid it is." Jason said as he held his arm out and gave a thumbs down. "Your Dystopia the Despondent… is destroyed."

It was just as Jason said. With a great thud, Dystopia fell down to its knees, the hole that was in its chest created from the Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos' attack seeping with its own dark energy. Its armor continued to crack and break off for a few seconds before the hologram finally broke apart, the Monster being completely destroyed.

"He-he did it!" Frederick exclaimed in shock, along with the surprised gasps and whisperings of everyone in the crowd. They were both amazed and confused as to how a weaker Monster was able to destroy Mal's ultimate monster.

"N-no! There must have been some sort of mistake!" Mal yelled. "My Dystopia had 5700 ATK, and your Dragon Queen only has 5500! She should have been destroyed, not Dystopia! You… you must have cheated somehow!"

"Perhaps you should have paid more attention to what I said earlier." Jason started. "I very clearly told you that my Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos gained 500 ATK for each Dragon-Type Monster on my side of the Field and in my Graveyard."

"Of course I heard that, you moron! You have 2 Dragons on your side of the Field, and you have 5 Dragons in your Graveyard! That gives you 7 Dragons for 3500 ATK!"

"Not necessarily… perhaps you should take a closer look at my Dragon Queen herself." Jason started as he gestured to his Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos. "You see, under normal circumstances, you would be right. I would only have 2 Dragons on my Field to get power from along with the 5 in my Graveyard, and with your Rush Recklessly, my Dragon Queen would have been 200 ATK short of the power she needed to destroy your Dystopia. However, thanks to a special quality shared by all of my Pure Chaos Ritual Monsters, that's not the case."

He gave a smile and held up his duel disk, pointing at the two Ritual Monster cards on it. "You see, my Pure Chaos Ritual Monsters have a special ability unlike any other card in the game. While my Pure Chaos Ritual Monsters are face-up on the Field, they're treated as two different Types of Monsters." he explained. "For example, while my Dragon Soul of Pure Chaos is naturally a Dragon-Type, while he's on the Field, he's also treated as a Spellcaster-Type. And in the case of my Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos, while she's naturally a Spellcaster-Type, while she's on the Field, she's also treated as a Dragon-Type."

"W… wait a minute… if your Dragon Queen is also treated as a Dragon-Type Monster while it's on the Field… then… that means-"

"That's right, Mal." Jason interrupted. "While you thought that there were only 7 Dragons that my Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos was drawing power from, with her special ability, she was actually getting strength from 8 Dragons. So while you thought she only had 5500 ATK, in actuality, she was up to a punishing grand total of 6000 ATK."

Mal was dumbfounded as he looked down at his duel disk. It appeared that Jason wasn't lying, as after that battle, he had indeed lost 300 Life Points, putting him down to 7700 Life Points. "...Well… that's no problem! I'll use my Supply Squad's effect to allow me to draw 1 additional card!"

"Not that it can really save you at this point." Jason said with a little shrug after Mal drew his card. "You won't be able to stand up to these next attacks. Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos, it's your turn! Attack Mal directly!" The Divine Chimera roared as it leapt forward, slashing Mal with its claws, taking a full 2300 Life Points off of him. Mal gave a yell of pain as he remained standing, the Divine Chimera now standing behind him.

"I'm… not out of this game just yet, Jason!" Mal said. "Your attack has left me with 5400 Life Points left. Your Dragon Soul of Pure Chaos doesn't have the ATK it needs to be able to finish me off! I'll still have my next turn, and I'll resummon my Dystopia and destroy you, no matter how many turns it takes to do so!"

"Once again, you're wrong." Jason said. "You see, there are two parts that create Pure Chaos: Light and Dark. And while my Divine Chimera's ability to Special Summon itself comes from the LIGHT, it also has another effect that it takes from the DARK. As long as I control a DARK Pure Chaos Monster, my Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos is allowed to make a second attack each Battle Phase. And if you look on my side of the Field, my Dragon Soul of Pure Chaos fulfills that requirement quite nicely."

"What?! That's insane!" Mal yelled. He heard a vicious growl from behind him as the Divine Chimera turned its head to look at him, its entire body being encased in a dark purple aura.

"Now, Divine Chimera! Let the powers of darkness fill you with strength, and attack again!" To Mal's horror and the shock of everyone, what Jason had said was true, and the Divine Chimera roared as it leapt forward again, slashing at Mal from behind, causing him to scream out in pain once again as he lost another 2300 Life Points.

"Now Mal has less than 5000 Life Points! And Jason's Dragon Soul of Pure Chaos still hasn't attacked yet!" Frederick yelled out in surprise, everyone looking in utter disbelief.

"N… no. This can't be happening!" Mal began to speak as he looked at his own duel disk, desperately looking in his Hand for something that he could do to save himself. "My ultimate Monster… my perfect strategy… no, this duel should be mine! Where did I go wrong?!"

"You'll have plenty of time to think about that after I win this duel." Jason said with a smirk as he pointed at Mal. "Alright, Dragon Soul of Pure Chaos, let's wrap this up! Attack Mal directly, and end this duel! Shadow Storm Bolt!" The sorcerer that rode on the dragon held his scepter up into the air, purple lightning firing towards Mal. The attack hit its mark, and Mal gave a scream of pain as he was thrown to the ground hard, the rest of his Life Points being reduced to 0 from that attack.

Silence consumed the area for a few seconds, the crowd letting all of the shock set in before the entire center began to roar with reactions. Cheers and applause rang out through the entire building, many people only being able to express their disbelief that Jason had actually beaten Mal the Monster.

"I… I lost… I don't believe it…" Mal said quietly to himself, his eyes staring off to the ceiling as he laid on his back. "I've beaten stronger duelists than this chump plenty of times… how could I lose…?"

"...You know, it was a really good duel, for what it's worth." Jason said as he walked up to Mal. "...If only you hadn't been such a giant jerk about it... " He held out his hand, as if waiting for something to be put in it. "Now then… we had a deal, and you lost. Pay up."

"I… you… gah! Whatever!" Mal growled as he took the card that he had been showing the others just minutes ago and begrudgingly gave it to Jason. "I couldn't use that stupid card anyway. The best I would have been able to do with it is make a quick buck out of it."

"Heh. If that was the case, then you might as well have just tried selling it to me then." Jason joked with a little shrug. "Feel free to come back and face me again whenever you feel like it. I'll be more than ready to take you on again should you decide to."

Mal gave a little growl and stood up swiftly, backing up a little bit before pointing at Jason. "This isn't over, chump! The next time we duel, I'm going to beat you so hard, the only place you'll be able to find work is as a freak in a horror show!" With that, he swiftly grabbed his backpack and quickly left the building.

"Jason!" Frederick exclaimed as he went running up to him.

"Hey, Fred! Did you see that? I just totally won that-" Jason started, but was interrupted as, without any warning, Frederick landed a vicious punch right into his gut. Jason gave a little yelp before falling unto his knees, clutching his stomach that Frederick had just hit.

"What the Hell were you thinking, you moron?! I told you not to take him on in a duel! You almost lost your entire Deck to your own stupidity!"

"Heheheh… well, I won, didn't I?" Jason questioned with a bit of a weak chuckle.

"And that's the only reason that I'm not gonna kick your ass any harder." Frederick said with a huff and a shake of his head. Jason just gave a little chuckle and stood himself back up after recovering a bit from the punch in his stomach. Frederick could be quite the handful sometimes, but he knew that he meant well, and was only just looking out for his wellbeing.

After fully standing up, when the crowd was finally starting to go about their own way, many still talking about what they had just witnessed, Jason took the time to get a good look at the card that he had just won from Mal. It was a Monster card with the name "Winged Love Princess", and the art of the card was a harpy with pink hair, pink feathers on her wings, and a big smile and blush on her face. The entire background of the art was pink with white hearts on it.

"...Well… I can definitely see why Mal was showing this card off… I've never seen anything like this in my life." Jason commented as he showed Frederick.

Frederick took the card with an initial look of interest, which quickly turned into confusion and bewilderment. The card almost appeared to be more of a joke than anything. "...Uhhh… yeah… that's… interesting." he said. "...Think you'll be able to use this in your Deck?"

"Nah. Not now, at least. It says I need 5 Winged-Beasts or "Winged" Monsters… whatever those are… to Summon it…" Jason gave a shrug and a hum as he took the card back. "Well… I'm sure I'll be able to make a use for it somehow… now then… how about we start getting back to lunch? Having that close duel really kicked up my appetite!"

Frederick watched in bewilderment as his friend, the one who had literally almost lost his entire deck, casually started heading out of the building again. "Come on, Frederick! I'm in the mood for Chinese food. Let's go to that Asian buffet place and pig out like we're going to the electric chair!"

Frederick just gave a slight sigh and a shake of his head before smiling just a bit. "Such a complete moron… and yet he somehow never ceases to amaze me." he muttered under his breath as he followed Jason, just happy that everything managed to work out for his friend.


	2. Playtime

**Author's Note: Alright. Before we start off this chapter... as you can probably see, I've decided that I would continue on with this story and make it a bigger thing than just a one time proof of concept story. While I did say I would probably wait to see how things went with the first part, I wasn't exactly telling the truth. I have plenty of more cards that I've made/am making, and have plenty of more ideas of how to use them in a full story.**

**Most importantly, however, I'm just having an absolute blast writing these things. It's fun taking cards that I myself have created and making a whole story out of them. So you can definitely expect more of these in the upcoming future.**

**With all of that out of the way, for those of you who read the first part and are still interested in what I have to write, thank you for your support and taking the time to read this. It really is amazing, and I hope you all enjoy these continuations as much as I am.**

**With all of that said, let's get this party started.**

To some degree, Frederick should have been used to the kind of things that Jason does at this point. They had been friends for quite some time now, and Frederick had plenty of that time to be exposed to both Jason's lack of thinking things through and his near insatiable appetite.

However, even after all this time, he couldn't help but find himself staring at Jason in near disbelief as they sat there in the Asian buffet, Frederick just sitting on the other side of Jason, who was busy scarfing down his plate full of General Tso's chicken on top of lo mein.

Jason had just gotten out of a duel that he almost lost, that almost cost him his entire Deck. If Frederick were in that exact same situation, he would have been taking plenty of time in thinking about what had happened, and just appreciating the fact that everything went alright, despite the odds. He would have been thanking any bit of luck he had that he managed to draw just the card he needed in order to win that duel.

And yet Jason wasn't like that at all. Even after such a stressful duel, one that would have undoubtedly caused even the coolest of people to sweat, he was just sitting there, casually chowing down, like there was nothing wrong at all. He was acting more as if he had just finished a quiz that was really easy, not a duel that was too close for comfort.

To some degree, Frederick wondered if it was because of the stress from that previous duel that Jason was eating so much right now. Perhaps his love of food was a means for him to calm down from the potential mess he was just barely able to squeak his way out of. Then again, Jason was always such a happy-go-lucky guy at times, it would be almost impossible to tell if he even felt anything like stress or worry at any time. He just seemed so casual a lot of the time, only getting serious at all when the need for it was dire.

These thoughts played on in Frederick's head as he watched Jason take a break from eating the lo mein and chicken and move on to eating some of his egg rolls. His face was quite messy now, having several spots of sauce and crumbs on them. Along with being a casual guy and a strong duelist, Jason was also one of the messiest eaters that Frederick had ever met.

"I'm telling you, Frederick. You gotta go over there and try some of those teriyaki chickens on sticks they got over there." Jason said after wolfing down two egg rolls and taking a big swig of his bowl of egg drop soup. It was obviously cooled down enough for Jason to be able to do that without burning his tongue too much. "They really know what they're doing when they're making this food here."

Frederick was silent for a few seconds before giving a sigh. He had already finished his one plate of food, and wasn't sure if he was hungry enough to go get another one. "...Honestly, I don't really know how you do it." Frederick said. "You almost lost your whole Deck from your own stupidity… and yet, here you are, finishing up your fifth full plate of food."

Jason stopped eating for a second and looked at Frederick again. "...What do you mean?" he started before giving a little frown. "Is this about that whole diet thing again? I told you, Fred. I already tried going on that little sissy diet you recommended, but I can't stick with that. When you got so much good food and so much of it-"

"No, no. That's not what I mean." Frederick interrupted, causing Jason to stop. "...What I mean is… you almost lost everything just a few minutes ago. You should be still settling down from the worry and fear of losing your Deck. You should be shaking, thanking whatever you believe in that you were able to win that game."

Jason stared at Frederick quietly for a few seconds before letting his eyes swing to the left, then to the right, then looking back at Frederick before giving a little shrug. "Should I be?" he asked before he took up his fork again and continued eating his food, while also still listening, knowing that Frederick still had a few things to say.

"I know that anybody else would be, at least." Frederick answered. "...I just don't understand how you're able to stay so calm and casual in almost any situation. Do you know how terrified anybody else would have been at the thought of being in that situation you were in? Because that wasn't just a game that time. That was your entire Deck on the line there."

Jason finished up his fifth plate, giving a hum and looking up in thought before he put the plate down, leaning a bit back into the booth he sat on. "...Yeah, I guess for a situation like that, I can't really say that it was just a game, can I?" he asked before shrugging. "I guess to some degree, I just never really focused on the fact that if I lost that game, I was going to be losing my entire Deck. I was mostly focused on the idea of having a good game and giving it my all to win, even at the very end."

Jason gave a hum and picked up his bowl of soup and was about to start drinking it, but then began to think as he looked at what little of a reflection of himself he could see in there. "I mean, I admit, I let the situation sink in at the end, when I needed to play seriously to turn the duel around, so it's not like the price for failing wasn't in my head at all… but at the same time, I wasn't really in that duel to get something out of it, or to risk my entire Deck. I was in the duel to enjoy myself, to have a good duel that I would always remember. And despite how much of a jerk he was about it, Mal gave me that."

Frederick didn't say anything in response, just looking down and thinking as Jason began to drink the remaining soup in his bowl. Not thinking about the consequences and just doing what he did… it sometimes worried Frederick a little bit that perhaps Jason was a bit too casual at times.

"Well… I'm gonna be going up there for another round." Jason said after putting the now empty bowl down. "Might make this time around my dessert round. You want me to pick anything up for you while I'm up there, so you don't have to walk up there yourself?"

"Uhhh… no, that's ok. Jason. I'm not really that hungry." Frederick answered before looking down in thought. "...Actually, if you could get a bowl of chocolate pudding for me while you're up there, that would be nice."

"No problama, pal." Jason said with a smile, patting Frederick's shoulder as he got up, leaving his plate on the table as he went back to the buffet counter for another plate.

Frederick gave a little sigh as he watched Jason go up for his sixth plate of food, this one hopefully being the last. He was at least somewhat grateful that Jason was finally getting to the dessert run, which was always the last one he got before he was finally done. "Honestly. You worry me sometimes, Jason." he muttered with a shake of his head as he took out his laptop and connected to the restaurant's Wi-Fi, and began to browse around while he was waiting.

While he was browsing around, waiting for Jason to return, he found a certain article on a news website posted just under a few hours ago. When he first got a look at it, just seeing the name of the article alone caused his eyes to widen and his stomach to turn a little bit. He sat there silently, staring at the link to the article for the longest time before finally clicking on it to get a better look at it.

Just as he did, Jason was finally coming back, a bowl of chocolate pudding for Frederick in one hand, and in the other, a plate full of desserts for himself. "There you go." he said as he put the bowl down for Frederick, but remained standing there, frowning a bit as he noticed the way that Frederick was staring at his screen. "...Something wrong there, buddy? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"Man, you gotta take a listen to this. This is really big." Frederick said. Jason gave a little bit of a shrug and sat down back in his spot, taking his napkin and wiping his face off with it, getting a good deal of the spots that were on his face off as he sat there, silently listening to what his friend had just found.

"'Local Vigilante Strikes Again Against Alleyway Thug'." Frederick read out loud to Jason. "'A believed-to-be gang member was found dead last night by officers in the Dark Alley of Nightmare'."

"Dark Alley of Nightmare?" Jason questioned. "Isn't that the alleyways real close to my neighborhood?"

"Where it's said that there are so many criminal gangs and thugs, if all of them were released into the world and spread out, they could fill a small country with crime in just a few hours. Yes."

Jason was silent for a few seconds before giving a little shrug. "Alright… so what exactly is the big deal then?" he questioned as he started to eat some of a sliced banana covered in strawberry syrup. "That place is literally crawling with crime on its very walls. People are going to die in there everyday from other people trying to send 'em off."

"Did you not hear the part in the title about the vigilante?" Frederick asked, almost flabbergasted and wondering if Jason was even paying attention before going on to read the article further. "'While the exact cause of death is yet to be determined, officers have found traces of what appears to be hardened gold in the victim's throat and mouth, along with a large puddle of hardened gold near the victim's body'."

Hearing this part, Jason stopped eating once again, and looked at Frederick. "...A puddle of gold and gold in his throat and mouth…? What does that mean? He was like… coughing it up, or something…?" he asked before giving a little shudder. "...Or did whoever did it force them to drink liquid gold…? That's a scary thought."

"I don't know… we'll have to wait until we get more information about what happened." Frederick said, his eyes still not leaving the article, even as he spoke.

"But listen to this here. 'The body of the victim was also found with a duel disk on and the Kanji symbols for 'Donyoku', Japanese for Greed, cut into his chest, leading authorities to believe that this is the work of a local vigilante that the city has nicknamed 'Beelze', due to his executions in the Dark Alley of Nightmare always appearing to take place after a duel, and always involving one of the seven deadly sins'."

Jason was silent, but his eyes showed that he was feeling a bit uneasy with the news he had just heard. He had heard plenty of rumors about someone that was only known as Beelze lurking around in those alleyways. Some people looked up to him as a symbol of justice, cleaning up the filth that threatened the peace as they knew it, while others thought he was just another thug, taking out rival gangs so that he could have whatever underhanded business there was to have in that place all to himself.

"'Authorities strongly warn local residents against following in the actions of this vigilante. They also issue a statement prohibiting anyone from seeking out this vigilante, as he is believed to be extremely dangerous. If anyone has any leads on this unknown assailant, contact the local authorities immediately'."

Jason gave a hum as he looked down in thought. "...Wow… that… is kind of a scary thought…" he said before giving a little shrug and a smile to try to get the thoughts out of his head. "But hey. We're smart enough to not go into the alleyways, right? And we're not bad people, so this guy has no reason to go after us." He continued eating, content with that thought.

"Oh, is that so?" Frederick asked before giving a little joking smirk. "After all, in case you somehow have forgotten, Jason, gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins."

Jason stopped his eating for a second when he heard that, looking at his plate before looking back at Frederick. "...What exactly are you trying to imply here, man?" he questioned with a little shudder. "...I'm eating the perfect amount for myself. It's not gluttony if it isn't excessive."

"Whatever you say, buddy." Frederick answered with a little shake of his head and a snicker. "...Just be careful if you decide to roam around at night, looking for a snack or someone to play cards with. I would absolutely hate to see an article talking about how you died with your stomach ripped open."

"Come on. Don't even joke about that. Please? It's ruining my appetite." Jason whined with a little shudder. Frederick just gave a shrug and closed his laptop before he began to eat the chocolate pudding that Jason had left for him. After a few seconds of silence, Jason went back to eating his desserts, after carefully reminding himself that as long as he didn't go too far out at night, he should be just fine.

As the two were continuing to eat their desserts, the shopkeeper's bell rang, notifying the opening of the door. Four girls walked into the buffet, one with blue hair, two with black, and the other with a reddish-brown color of hair. The girl with reddish-brown hair was talking as they walked in, and upon hearing her voice, Frederick froze up.

"...And then he tried to tell me that it would be meta in a couple of years guaranteed, and if I bought it now, I would be way ahead of the competition." she said as the girls stood at the counter, waiting for someone to come and seat them. "Yeah. Like I'm gonna believe that a bunch of alphabetical aliens that need to be face-down to do anything at all are going to be meta in the next coming years. You'd have an easier time telling me that Pot of Greed was going to be unbanned by the next banlist."

"Oh man... " Frederick said with a little gulp, getting Jason's attention, who stopped eating and looked at his friend, noticing that he seemed a little uneasy all of a sudden. "...Jason… is that who I think it is?"

Jason gave a little confused grunt as he looked up towards the counter, watching as someone finally came up to get the girls seated. "...Oh. You mean Carrie Luck?"

Frederick gave a little groan as Jason confirmed his recognition of her voice. Carrie Luck, the captain of their university's cheerleading team, and the one girl that Frederick had a massive crush on. He didn't think that she and some of her friends would be coming to the restaurant that they were eating in.

Jason watched as the girls went to their table and got seated before looking at Frederick. He was about to ask what the problem was, but then gave a little smirk as he could immediately tell what was on his mind. "Ooooh. Now I get it." he said. "You got a little crush on Carrie there, don't you? Wanting to get her cheering for you everyday, eh?"

"Shut up…" Frederick muttered as he kept his head down a little bit, just looking at the table with a small blush on his cheeks.

"Hey, man. There's no need to be ashamed or anything. Crushes are completely normal. Especially for someone like Carrie. I mean, I ain't really interested in her too much myself, but even I can see why some people are all googly-eyes over her." Jason said with a chuckle. "Besides, this could just be a perfect opportunity for you."

"Opportunity…? Opportunity for what?"

"What, you mean you don't see it? Carrie's here in the exact same restaurant that we just so happy to be in? You have a crush on her? It's pretty obvious, don't you think? Now's the perfect time to ask her out while you have the chance."

"C-come on, Jason…" Frederick answered as he slowly lowered his head even closer to the table, his elbows resting on the table and his hands holding his head up, almost as if he was trying to cover it up. "You know how nervous I get around her… I'm way too shy to be able to talk to her, let alone ask her out."

Jason was silent for a few seconds before he turned back to look at Carrie, seeing that she and her friends had just gotten their food. "...Well then, I guess you should be thankful that I'm not."

"H-hang on, just what do you mean by-"

"Hey, Carrie Luck! You got a minute?" Jason called out to the table, getting the attention of all four of the girls that were sitting there, as well as several other people within the restaurant.

"Oh, come on, Jason!" Frederick piped up, his face starting to become hot pink with blush. "You're gonna embarrass me!"

It was too late for Frederick to talk Jason out of it, as now Carrie's full focus was on the two of them. She gave a little hum of thought as she looked at the two of them with disinterest at first, only to have her curiosity peek when she got a better look at who just called her. "...Hey… I know you." she said as she stood up and walked over to their table, her friends keeping a close eye on her. "...You're Jason Titan, right? The guy who beat Malcolm Alexson in a duel not two hours ago, right?"

"That would be me. Glad to hear the news of what I did is getting around so fast." Jason answered with a little chuckle. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Well… I guess so… not sure whether or not I can say the same about you." she said with a little joking giggle. "After all, with what everyone was saying about the guy who beat one of the best duelists in the university, I was half expecting him to be a little more muscular."

Jason gave a little bit of an embarrassed blush and rubbed the back of his head with his left hand while his right moved to his own bulged belly, which seemed to have bloated just slightly from the amount of food he had eaten. "Well… what can I say? When Jason's belly gets hungry, Jason makes sure to feed the big girl real well."

Frederick stared at Jason with some bit of bewilderment. He really didn't seem to care very much what other people thought of him. He was always just happy with himself and trying to have a good time.

"Oh. I forgot to introduce my friend." Jason said as he gestured to Frederick, who just looked up at Carrie, shrinking a bit in his seat. "This is my best friend, Frederick Calverson. He's really shy, but he and I were just talking about how incredibly hot he thinks you are."

"J-Jason!" Frederick piped up, kicking him hard in the leg, earning a little pained hiss from Jason as he held onto his leg, rubbing the spot where he was just kicked. "D-don't listen to my friend. He's just an idiot. We weren't talking about that at all… I-I mean, n-not that I don't think you're hot or anything. You look really good… n-no! That's not what I… errr…" He just stopped talking and tried, in vain, to cover up his face with his shirt, his face now being almost completely crimson red with blush.

"Hmph… that's pretty cute." Carrie said with an amused smirk as she put her hands on her hips and looked at Frederick. "Letting your friend try to make the first move for you, hm? Well, I certainly appreciate that you have an interest in me… though I would prefer a man who would be brave enough in being able to speak for himself… not letting his friends do it for him."

Frederick gave a little gulp as he lowered his shirt a little bit, his eyes looking intently at the hips that her hands rested on. He wasn't sure what reason he had in looking at her hips so intently, aside from maybe just to keep himself from having to look at her in the eyes. "I promise you, I didn't ask him to do this…"

"Hey, I got an idea!" Jason said with a little snap of his fingers, after his leg had stopped hurting so much. "Mal was the first one to introduce me to duels for prizes… why don't we give that a try?" He looked at Carrie with a friendly, if naive, smile. "You duel Fred here, and if he wins, you and him have to go on a date."

"Oh, come on, Jason." Frederick said. "You're going to put that into a duel? You don't even know whether or not Carrie even has a deck. It may come as a surprise to you, but not everyone in the whole world plays Duel Monsters just because-"

"A duel to have a date with me?" Carrie questioned with a little snicker. "I've heard of 'weights for dates' plenty of times, but 'duels for dates'? And here I thought you men couldn't get any more desperate when you wanted a girl." This earned some laughs from her friends, embarrassing Frederick even more.

"However, it just so happens that I have my duel disk and my deck with me. Though I've got to say, I don't know how well your friend over there would do… I'd be much more interested in having a duel with you, Jason. After all, I lost to Malcolm once a while ago, so I'm more than interested in seeing how I stack up against the man that beat him."

"Well… as much as I would love a really good duel, I don't think I'd be able to take the excitement." Jason answered with a chuckle as he gave his belly a nice slap. "Gotta let my big girl here rest, she's so full of food."

"Such a shame. Perhaps another time." Carrie answered simply with a shrug before turning back to Frederick. "As for you... if you want to have a go with me, then I'll accept it. However, if I win this duel, you have to pay for me and my friends' meal. We got a deal?"

"Perfect. Then it's settled then." Jason answered with a little clap. "Frederick vs Carrie. If Frederick wins, he gets a date, and if Carrie wins, for her meal, we pay."

Carrie gave a nod and looked at her friends. "If you would please, fetch my duel disk and my deck for me. I've got a free meal to win us." she said. Her friends nodded and began to rummage through her bag. Meanwhile, she turned her gaze back at Frederick. "...Well? You gonna get up so we can duel, or what?"

"Uhhhh… well… you see, I… uhhh…" Frederick quickly began to look around, desperately looking for some kind of excuse. "...A-actually, you know what? I can't duel. See, I… uhhh… I don't have my duel disk with me… yeah. I have my deck with me, but I left my duel disk at one of my dorms… sorry… maybe another time?"

"Nah, don't worry about it." Jason said with a little smile as he reached into his bag and pulled out his duel disk, pushing it onto Frederick. "There. You can borrow mine, ya see? Now you can duel Carrie no problem. Just make sure I get that duel disk back when you're done."

Frederick was silent for a few seconds, staring at the duel disk that Jason had just loaned him. Seemed like his friend was going to be having Frederick duel one way or another. "...Jason… if you weren't my best friend, I would literally clobber you in the head with this thing until you start bleeding." he muttered as he slowly stood up, taking his deck out of his bag. "...I guess I don't really have much of a say, now that the challenge has already been made, huh…? Let's do this."

While Frederick put on Jason's duel disk and put his Deck in it, Carrie got her own duel disk. It was a specially made one, in the shape of a golden pom pom, with the center of it glowing with a lively cerulean color. When the disk expanded, it was mostly white like the standard duel disk, but the outsides of it glowed with an emerald green.

"Alright then, Frederick. You ready to pay for my friends and I?" Carrie questioned confidently as she had her deck in her duel disk and got ready to duel.

"Uhhh… y-yeah. Sure. Let's… duel, I guess…" Frederick said quietly. He obviously didn't share in Carrie's confidence.

Jason decided to sit with Carrie's friends, after getting permission to do so, to get a better look at the duel that was about to happen. The servers were objecting to a duel happening in their restaurant, but seemed to be completely ignored, as the entire restaurant now turned to see what was about to go down.

"You don't seem that happy. You're starting to make me feel bad about this." Carrie said. "Tell you what. If it will build your confidence up any, I'll let you go first."

"Th-thanks… I guess…" Frederick said a bit under his breath. Jason frowned as he watched. Frederick was never a very confident duelist. He almost always seemed to be second guessing himself, or playing too safe when it mattered most. He just hoped that Frederick would be able to get over it in this duel.

"_Well… despite the fact that I didn't even want to do this in the first place… I might as well give it my all while I'm here._" Frederick thought to himself before looking at the cards in his Hand. He already had one of the most important cards for his Deck. He could activate it on the first turn and help set up everything for his Deck to play well. But at the same time, he didn't want to play it right away and risk it getting destroyed by one of Carrie's card effects.

He decided to play it safe that turn, by setting one card in his Monster Zone and another in his Spell/Trap Zone. "I place one Monster and one other card face-down and end my turn."

"Quite a boring move there, sweetie. I was hoping for a little bit more excitement and danger from a man." Carrie said as she drew her card before giving a little smirk. "Well, if you're not going to bring any of the fun, I guess I'll just go and make it for myself. First things first, I activate the Field Spell Card, Cheerleader's Locker Room!"

The Field Spell Card component opened in her duel disk, and she slid the card she had just activated in before the compartment closed once again. In the blink of an eye, to the surprise of everyone watching, the area that they were in had completely changed. Instead of a buffet, they were now sitting in a large locker room, with the booths and seats changing into locker room benches, and the windows being replaced with rows of locker rooms.

"Hoh boy. Looks like that Frederick guy is in for it now." Carrie's blue-haired friend said, earning agreeing nods from the other two as they watched on.

"What do you mean? Is that Field Spell bad news?" Jason questioned. He had never heard of a card like that before.

"Big time." one of the black-haired girls answered. "That card is one of the pieces to Carrie's ultimate combo. And unluckily for your friend, looks like she's going to be hitting it with him on her very first turn."

"That's right." Carrie answered with a nod. "Allow me to explain. You see, my Cheerleader's Locker Room doesn't just change the scenery a little bit. It also sets the stage to my rise to stardom, and your path to defeat. My Field Spell comes packing with 3 very useful abilities. The first ability activates upon activation. When I activate my Cheerleader's Locker Room, I'm allowed to add 1 Cheerleader Monster from my Deck to my Hand. And I know just which one to pick."

She smirked as she took her Deck out before taking a card out of it and adding it to her hand. "I'll use that effect to add 1 of my Monsters to my Hand. But don't worry, you're going to be seeing her real soon. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and Normal Summon the card I just added to my Hand! Say hello to my Monster Cheerleader Captain!"

She placed the Monster she had just added to her Hand onto the duel disk. A hologram of the Monster appeared, revealing a young girl with brownish-red hair. She wore white tennis shoes as well as a very short blue and yellow cheerleader skirt, complimented by a cheerleader top that left part of her stomach revealed. It was mostly blue with yellow like the skirt, but also had a white part at the chest area with the letters "DM" on there in brown. Her information revealed her to be a Level 4 EARTH Warrior-Type with 1800 ATK and 400 DEF.

"So that's the card she added from her Field Spell's effect, huh?" Jason questioned, immediately finding something quite odd upon looking at the monster, specifically with how she compared with the look of her owner. "...How odd… that Monster looks an awful lot like Carrie herself…"

"Quite the resemblance, isn't it?" the blue-haired girl said with a little giggle. "Actually, it's not a coincidence. That card was actually directly based off of Carrie herself."

"What?!" Jason questioned in surprise. "You're serious?!"

"That's right. You see, Carrie's father actually worked with Industrial Illusions, the ones that created Duel Monsters. Her father created all of the Cheerleader cards in her deck specially for her, and even made one of the monsters with her in mind."

"That's right." Carrie said with a proud giggle and a nod. "And if there's one thing my daddy taught me, it was how I can reach the top, especially when I have the right friends with me. That's why my Monster Cheerleader Captain has her special effect. When she's successfully Normal Summoned or Special Summoned, she allows me to discard up to 3 cards in my Hand, and for every card I discard, I can Special Summon a Monster Cheerleader directly from my Deck."

She took three cards from her hand and sent them to the Graveyard, only leaving 2 cards left in her Hand. "I send these 3 cards from my Hand to the Graveyard, so that I can Special Summon all three of my copies of Monster Cheerleader from my Deck! Come on out and take the stage, girls!"

Right behind Carrie's Monster Cheerleader Captain appeared three more Monsters as she put them on her duel disk. They had cheerleader outfits very similar to the Captain's, only theirs had more white than yellow. Their tops were also quite shorter, leaving just about the entirety of their stomachs revealed. All three of the Monsters had long, lustrous blonde hair, and each had a large, red bowtie on the back of their head. Their information showed them to be Level 2 EARTH Warrior-Types with 1000 ATK and 500 DEF.

"And I suppose now would be a good time to tell you about those other two effects I mentioned for my Field Spell." Carrie began. "You see, the second ability of my Field Spell is a continuous effect, which protects all Cheerleader Monsters I control from being destroyed by battle while it remains face-up on the Field. Its final effect activates whenever I Normal Summon or Special Summon any number of Cheerleader Monsters. When that happens, I can equip them with a Cheerleader Equip Spell directly from my Deck."

"No way!" Frederick exclaimed in shock. "You mean you can equip every single one of those Monsters right now with cards you don't even have in your Hand yet?!"

"Not quite all of them." Carrie corrected. "You see, since I already activated the effect of my Monster Cheerleader Captain, I've already passed by my chance of equipping her with anything. But that doesn't stop me from equipping my other three girls. Something that I'll be doing right now."

All three of the Monster Cheerleaders gave a little jump for joy as they all held up their hands into the air, waiting for their equips. "And I've got just the gifts for these lovely ladies. For my first Monster Cheerleader, I'll give her the Cheerleader Pom Pom - Black. For the second one, I'll give her my Cheerleader Pom Pom - Blue. And last but not least, my last Monster Cheerleader will be getting Cheerleader Pom Pom - Purple."

All of the three Monsters got their appropriate pom poms of color in their hands, and brought their hands down. They gave a couple of claps with their pom poms and began to perform a few cheer dances. "Now that my cheerleaders have their pom poms, they each get a little bonus in their ATK. More specifically, an additional 100 Attack Points, bringing them up to 1100."

"That's all the boost they're getting?" Jason questioned, quite confused at what he just saw. "Those Pom Poms only increased their ATK by a measly 100 points. They still don't pose very much of a threat to Frederick as they are now."

"Ohohoh, how wrong you are." Carrie chimed in with a little smirk, waving her finger a little bit. "Attack Points aren't everything in this card game, you know. In fact, for my Cheerleaders, they barely matter at all. It's what you do with what you have, and the teamwork that you're able to put together that counts. And my cheerleaders are going to prove that with this Spell Card here!" She eagerly took one of the remaining cards from her Hand and put it in the Spell/Trap Zone. "Now, I activate my Spell Card! Cheerleader Pyramid!"

When the Spell card was activated, all three of the Monster Cheerleaders huddled together, holding their hands together, as if ready to lift something up together. Monster Cheerleader Captain jumped backwards, jumping quite high and flipping gracefully before it landed on the hands of the Monster Cheerleaders, who caught their Captain and held her up high and proud.

"You see, my Cheerleader Pyramid can only be activated when I control a Monster Cheerleader Captain, and the only other Monsters I control are all Cheerleader Monsters. And since both of those requirements have been met, this handy Spell Card allows my Cheerleaders to attack your Life Points directly this turn, even though you still have a Monster face-down on the Field."

"They can what?!" Frederick yelled as he took a step back, looking at his face-down Monster in surprise. Now the Monster he put down couldn't even protect him this turn.

"A 100 ATK boost may not seem significant on the surface…" Carrie started with a smirk. "But it sure adds up with all of the direct damage you'll be taking this turn, won't it? Show him what I mean, girls! Go get him!" On command, the three Monster Cheerleaders tossed their Captain up high into the air, letting her do a number of flips in the air before she began to descend towards Frederick, her leg extended outward and ready to deliver a vicious kick onto him.

"H-hang on just a minute, Carrie!" Frederick said. "I'm not going to let you get to my Life Points that easily. I reveal my Trap Card! Negate Attack!"

The card that Frederick had placed face-down revealed itself, and just before Monster Cheerleader Captain's attack could land, a force pushed her back to Carrie's side of the Field. "Negate Attack is a Trap Card that can only be activated when you declare an attack. When that happens, I can use this handy card to negate the attack! Not only that, but when an attack is negated by the effect of Negate Attack, your Battle Phase also comes to an end!"

"Alright. Not a bad play, Freddy." Jason said. "Not only do Carrie's Monsters not get a chance to attack this turn, but now she essentially wasted her Cheerleader Pyramid."

"Indeed, Now that my Battle Phase is to end, my Cheerleader Pyramid's chance is used up without even getting to go off properly. Quite a smart play there." Carrie complimented before pausing a few seconds and smirking. "...Or at least it would have been, if I didn't have this Spell Card in my Hand."

"A Spell card?" Frederick asked in surprise.

"That's right. More specifically, the Quick Play Spell Card, Drill Rerun!"

"Say what now?" Jason questioned as he watched Carrie play her Quick Play Spell.

"Allow me to explain. You see, as the Captain of the Cheerleading Team, my job is to make sure that everyone knows the drill and can execute it flawlessly every time. In order to make sure of that, we need to practice it countless times to perfect our run. We run our dances, then we run them again, and again, and again, until we can do them perfectly. And this Quick Play Spell allows us to do just that."

"What do you mean? None of that makes any sense!" Frederick retorted.

"To put it in words you'll understand…" Carrie started. "This Spell card can only be activated while I control a face-up Monster Cheerleader Captain. Since I do, when you try to activate a card effect that would end my Battle Phase early, such as your Negate Attack, my handy Spell Card allows me to negate the activation of that card and destroy it."

"It what?!" Frederick exclaimed as he watched the hologram of his Negate Attack Trap Card lose its color and crack until it broke into pieces and disappeared from the field. "My Negate Attack is gone!"

"Not only that, but my Drill Rerun has another added effect to keep you from being naughty." Carrie said. "If my Drill Rerun is used to negate a card that would prematurely end the Battle Phase, you can't activate any other card effects for the rest of the Battle Phase. But more importantly, now that the effect of your Negate Attack has been negated, my cheerleading squad gets to rerun their attacks with the effect of Cheerleader Pyramid still in play. And this time, I promise you, they're gonna do it right, without any interruptions!"

Jason watched with a little shudder as the three Monster Cheerleaders got back into position, holding their hands together while Monster Cheerleader Captain hopped back into the air again, once again, landing on the hands of the other three, who caught her and held her up into the air perfectly. "This isn't gonna be good. She was completely prepared for Fred's defensive plays, and now he can't do anything to stop these incoming attacks."

"Alright, Monster Cheerleader Captain!" Carrie commanded as she pointed at Frederick. "Continue where you left off! Attack him directly!" The Monster Cheerleaders tossed their captain high up into the air once again, the Captain doing several flips in the air before being in position for her kick, flying in towards Frederick with her foot extended once again. This time, the attack hit its mark, Frederick giving a little bit of a scream as the kick landed right onto his chest, docking him a full 1800 Life Points.

"Alright, girls. Now it's your turns." Carrie said to her three Monster Cheerleaders before pointing at Frederick again. "Go get him, girls!" Obediently, all three of the Monsters leapt out of position towards Frederick and delivered their attacks. One of them gave Frederick a harsh slap on the face, which wasn't at all softened by the pom pom. The second jumped into the air and spread her legs out in a mid air splits while she hammered Frederick right on the head with both of her hands. The final one attacked from behind, giving Frederick a good kick in his rear, causing his eyes to shoot wide open and a loud, long yelp to come from him. All of the Cheerleaders did their 1100 damage, adding up to a total of 3300 additional points of damage.

"Oh man… it's already the first turn, and Fred has already lost 5100 Life Points… that's not at all a good start to a duel, especially when your opponent has managed to summon 4 Monsters out on just their first turn." Jason commented.

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet." one of the black-haired girls said. "It only gets worse from here on out for Frederick there."

"And now, since I've delivered Battle Damage to your Life Points via my Monster Cheerleaders, I have a few effects that I need to activate." said Carrie casually.

"Effects? Just what do you mean?" Frederick asked with a wince, still recovering from the pain of the last 4 attacks.

"The effects of my Pom Pom cards, to be specific." Carrie answered. "You see, my Pom Pom Equip Spells are more than just some meager ATK boost. Much like the Field Spell Card I control, my Pom Poms all have three different effects. The first one, being the obvious 100 ATK boost that you are aware of. The second one being a little bit of additional protection for my Cheerleaders. And finally, a third effect that is unique to each different color of Pom Poms, and activates when the equipped Monster deals Battle Damage to the opponent."

"Ooh, I do not like where this is going…" Jason muttered as he watched on in anticipation.

"So first of all, I'll activate the ability of my Purple Pom Pom. When a Monster equipped with it deals damage to your Life Points, I gain Life Points equal to the damage that you took from that battle. And since you took 1100 damage from each of my Monster Cheerleaders' attacks, I gain an additional 1100 points." Carrie explained as her Life Points went up from 8000 to 9100. "Next, the effect of my Black Pom Pom. When a Monster equipped with it deals damage to your Life Points, I get to banish 1 card that's currently in your Hand. And I think I'll choose the one on your far right."

"What?! Oh no! Not that card!" Frederick exclaimed in panic as he looked at the card that she had just banished from the game. "I need that card!"

"Hmmm. An important card, huh?" Carrie questioned with a little shrug. "Sorry, sweetie. Perhaps you should have thought about playing it rather than leaving it in your Hand like that. But I'm not done yet. Because I still have the effect of my Blue Pom Pom. When my Monster equipped with the Blue Pom Pom deals damage to your Life Points, I get to add 1 Cheerleader Spell/Trap Card from my Deck to my Hand." She took 1 card out of her Deck and showed the familiar card to Frederick. "And I think I'll just go ahead and help myself to another copy of my Cheerleader Pyramid."

"You gotta be kidding me! Another one of those things?!" Frederick yelled as he looked at the card she just took out of her Deck in despair.

"That's right, Freddy. And on my next turn, I'm going to be activating it to put you in your place." Carrie answered. "As you're probably starting to see now, it doesn't matter that my Cheerleader Monsters aren't exactly the strongest Monsters around. What they may lack in brute strength, they more than make up for in their teamwork and fighting spirit. And you're going to see that for yourself next turn, when they all go to pummel you for a second time!"

After Carrie had said this, her Monster Cheerleader Captain gave a little yell and held her hand up triumphantly, giving the order to the 3 Monster Cheerleaders to start a dance, which they did while also happily yelling out a cheer for their owner in perfect rhythm and harmony. "C! A! Double R! I! E! Go, Carrie!"

"Wow… now I'm starting to see why she was so confident in accepting this duel." Jason said as he watched and listened to the cheer. "These girls work together so well, I don't even know if I would be able to handle that…" He couldn't help but blush a bit and give a little bit of a smile. "And they're so cute and energetic as well…" Before he knew it, he had his eyes closed and was moving his hands around, as if he was doing the dance with them. "They're starting to make me want to do what they're doing, and I'm way too heavy to be doing anything like that."

Frederick looked at Jason, with a little twitch before turning to him and yelling at him, quickly snapping him out of it. "Oh, some friend you are! Just whose side are you on anyway?!" he shouted.

"Uhhhh… well, I, uhhhh…" Jason started with a little nervous chuckle as he closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his head with his hand.

"Honestly, Freddy. Do you really think you can give me a good time in a date? You can't even make one little duel fun." Carrie mocked as she took a card and put it in her Spell/Trap Zone. "Luckily for you, my Battle Phase has already passed, so I can't finish you off just yet. What I can do, however, is set this card face down. So go ahead and make your move, so that I can trounce you on my next turn."

"_Make my move…? But what's the point?_" Frederick thought to himself as he held his head down and looked at his duel disk. "_She's already taken such a huge advantage over me, and on her very first turn. And no matter what I do, she can just activate her Spell Card on her next turn and take me out… what's the point of even drawing my next card…? I'm better off just giving up while I still have some dignity left…_"

"Frederick!" Jason called out to him, getting his friend's attention. "I know that look of yours when I see it! You can't give up now, man! I know things are looking real bad, but you can still turn it around! Look! She only has 1 card left in her Hand, and it has to be the Spell Card she just added from her Cheerleader Pom Pom - Blue's effect! If you play your cards right, you can take the advantage right here and now!"

"But what's the point in even trying?" Frederick asked. "You know what that Spell Card is going to do. No matter what I do, on my next turn, she's going to activate it and allow all of her Cheerleader Monsters to attack me directly again. I'll never win this game, no matter what I do."

"You can't be serious! That's not true, and you know it!" Jason yelled back. "Aren't you forgetting something?! That Cheerleader Pyramid card can only be activated while she controls a face-up Monster Cheerleader Captain!" Upon hearing this, all of Carrie's friends and Carrie herself also turned their attention to Jason, to hear what he had to say. "The solution is right in front of you! All you have to do is destroy her Monster Cheerleader Captain, and she won't be able to activate that Spell Card!"

Carrie was silent for a few seconds before closing her eyes and smiling with an impressed hum. "How intriguing that the person who isn't even dueling is the one who's paying the most attention." she said before turning back to Frederick. "Your friend is right. If you can get rid of my Monster Cheerleader Captain, I'll have no way of playing my Cheerleader Pyramid until I can get another one… but that's easier said than done, isn't it? Don't forget, I still have my Cheerleader's Locker Room, which protects my Cheerleaders from battle. You'll have to get through it if you want to destroy my Cheerleader Captain."

"You hear that, Frederick?" Jason said with a little nod. "You know exactly what you have to do then. Now stop whinging like a little bitch, draw your next card, and make it happen!"

Frederick looked down at his hand silently. As much as he didn't like to admit it, he knew that Jason had a point. Jason, who had just recently himself been in a 7000 point deficit against one of the best duelists in the university, and went on to come back and win the whole duel in just one turn… if he could do that, Frederick really didn't have much of an excuse himself in giving up now.

"...Well… I guess there's no turning back now… I guess here goes something." he said as he took the top card of his Deck. "I draw!"

He looked at the card he just drew and his eyes widened. It couldn't have been a more perfect draw. Perhaps Jason was actually right. Maybe he could turn this around here and now!

"Alright… it's my turn!" Frederick said, sounding a little more confident now. "First, I activate my Spell Card, Mystical Space Typhoon!"

"Excuse me?!" Carrie questioned in shock.

"That's right. When my Mystical Space Typhoon is activated, I get to destroy 1 Spell or Trap card on the Field. And you know which one I'm aiming for. I use my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Cheerleader's Locker Room!"

The entire area was surrounded by a strong gust of whipping winds, and in just a few seconds, the background had changed back into the restaurant that everyone was sitting in.

"Alright! That's the way, Frederick!" Jason cheered on. "Now you've got everything set to bring her strategy to a grinding halt!"

"Not quite yet." Carrie reminded. "You may have destroyed my Field Spell Card, but you still don't have anything on your side of the Field that could hope to take my Monster Cheerleader Captain on. You're going to have to do a lot more than just a little gust of wind if you're gonna hope to turn this duel around."

"Well then, I'll just have to get to work on that, won't I?" Frederick questioned. "And in order to do that, I Flip Summon my Figure Infantry Man!" His face-down Monster was flipped up, and revealed his Monster. It was a human-sized, green army toy armed with a small green plastic machine gun. Its stats showed it to be a Level 2 EARTH Warrior-Type with 1000 ATK and 500 DEF, exactly like Carrie's Monster Cheerleaders.

"An army figure?" Carrie questioned with a little amused hum. "You're a little too old to be playing with toys, don't you think? No matter. That Monster still isn't strong enough to take on my Monster Cheerleader Captain. It couldn't even hope to beat any of my regular Monster Cheerleaders with their Pom Poms equipped to them."

"Maybe not, but perhaps a couple of friends for him would." Frederick answered as he played his second card, a Spell card that he had in his Hand. "Because now I'm activating the Spell Card, Enchanting Fitting Room!"

Jason gave a little bit of a wince as he watched Frederick's remaining 2900 Life Points go down to just 2100. "Be careful there, buddy." he called to him. "We don't want to get a little too spend happy, you know."

"Don't worry, Jason. Those Life Points are going for a good cause." Frederick explained as he took the top 4 cards of his Deck. "By paying 800 of my Life Points, I can take the top 4 cards of my Deck, and Special Summon any Level 3 or lower Normal Monsters from the cards I picked up. And just as I suspected, I can only Special Summon 1 card among the cards I've taken. And that would be a second copy of my Figure Infantry Man!" He took 1 of the cards from the 4 he had taken and put it into his Monster Zone.

"As for all of the other cards… well, they get shuffled back into my Deck, safe and sound where they belong."

"So you Special Summoned another copy of that card. So what?" Carrie sneered. "With both of them only having 1000 ATK, they couldn't even hope to scrape the shoes of my Monster Cheerleader Captain."

Frederick gave a little smirk. "Maybe… but somebody once said that Attack Points weren't everything. It's what you do with them that counts. And I'm going to do just that! Since I have two Monsters on my side of the Field, and I still haven't conducted my Normal Summon for the turn, I'm going to sacrifice my two Figure Infantry Men for something stronger!"

The two Figure Infantry Men turned to Frederick and gave a little salute before both of them disappeared. "Now with two Tributes, I'm allowed to Tribute Summon one of my favorite Monsters! Say hello to my Toy-Rex!"

In the place of the two weaker Monsters on Frederick's side of the Field, a much bigger Monster began to slowly rise up from the ground, the entire restaurant shaking from the power of the Monster that was being Summoned. Carrie and all of her Monsters watched the rising figure in shock, her Monster Cheerleader's all shaking as they huddled together, holding each other and shaking in fear.

The Monster had finally completely risen: a giant toy tyrannosaurus rex that was as big as the real thing, most of its body being a dark grayish-green with a lighter yellowish-green color on the underside of its belly and its lower jaw. It had a few red marks in the shapes of claws here and there on its body, and its eyes were a plastic yellow, but glinted with a white light as the monster fully rose. It gave a loud, powerful roar as its stats showed: a Level 8 EARTH Dinosaur-Type with 3000 ATK and 2000 DEF.

"Alright! That's the way you play it, Frederick!" Jason cheered as he held his fist up in the air to show his support. He knew that Toy-Rex was one of the strongest Monsters in Frederick's Deck. "Now give that cheerleader a good smacking!"

"It will be my pleasure." Frederick answered. "Oh, and since you like effects so much, Carrie, I've got one for you. Thanks to my Toy-Rex's special ability, any Battle Damage you take from battles involving it is doubled."

"It what?!" Carrie asked in shock.

"Alright!" Jason cheered. "Way to get her on the ropes, Freddy! Bring the duel back to you where it belongs!"

Frederick gave a little nod and looked at Carrie's Field. He no longer had any cards in his Hand, while Carrie still had her Cheerleader Pyramid in Hand. But she also didn't have any Monsters on the Field that could take on his Toy-Rex. Once he destroyed her main Monster, she would be the one going on the defensive.

"Now let's see how you like it when your important cards are taken out of commission!" Frederick yelled as he pointed to her Monster Cheerleader Captain. "Go, Toy-Rex! Destroy her Monster Cheerleader Captain! T. Rex Crush!" With a roar, the toy dinosaur began running towards Carrie's Field, its head lowered and its mouth open as it was coming in for the kill.

"Carrie, do something!" Carrie's blue-haired friend called out. "If that Monster destroys your Captain, you'll be completely stuck until you can summon it again!"

"You think I'm not aware of that? That's why I don't plan on letting it go any further." Carrie said calmly before giving a little smile. "I appreciate the effort, sweetie, even if it does come too little too late. But I'm afraid I've got a free meal to win. So I'll just go ahead and end this duel right now."

Frederick gave a confused grunt as he heard that, watching as Carrie held her hand out to her face-down card. "You've just triggered my Trap Card! And it's quite a doozy at that! It's my Trap Card, Cheer to Victory!"

"A Trap Card?" Jason questioned as he watched the card flip face-up. All of a sudden, the Monster Cheerleaders, who were previously huddled together and cowering from the Monster that was in front of them, suddenly stood tall and proud again, a white aura surrounding all three of them, and energetic, happy smiles plastered on all three of their faces.

"This devastating Trap Card can only be activated when you declare an attack on a face-up Attack Position Monster I control, and I control at least 1 face-up Cheerleader Monster on my side of the Field." Carrie explained. "When all of that happens, during the Damage Step only, this Trap card multiplies the ATK of the Monster you're trying to attack by the number of face-up Cheerleader Monsters I control!"

"'Multiply'?! Uh-oh." Jason commented as he watched on in shock. "That's not good. Counting the Monster that Frederick is trying to attack, she has 4 Cheerleader Monsters on her side of the Field."

"That's right. You know what that means." Carrie said confidently as she pointed at her Monster. "Now watch as the team spirit of my Cheerleader Monsters fills my Captain with the power she needs to win this duel here and now!"

All three of the Monster Cheerleaders began to clap their pom poms together and cheer for their captain. "Let's go, Captain! Let's go!" they cheered, clapping their pom poms together twice in between each cheer. As they did, the white aura that surrounded them flowed to the Monster Cheerleader Captain and covered her, invigorating her as her ATK of 1800 was multiplied by 4.

"Y-you gotta be kidding me!" Frederick squeaked in shock. "7200 Attack Points?!"

"And now you're going to feel them in action. Because now, your little toy's 3000 Attack Points look like a mere bug in the face of my Monster Cheerleader Captain."

"No! This can't be happening! Toy-Rex! Stop your attack! Hurry!" Frederick yelled in a desperate attempt to call the attack off.

"I'm afraid it's far too late for that. You've already declared your attack. And just like you said at the beginning of your turn, there's no going back for you." Carrie reminded. "Go on, Monster Cheerleader Captain! Counterattack, and send that overgrown toy into the landfill where it belongs!"

With no other cards on his Field or in his Hand, all Frederick could do was watch helplessly as the newly energized Monster Cheerleader Captain delivered a vicious kick into the chin of the Toy-Rex, which gave a pained roar as he was knocked back from the kick before breaking apart and being destroyed.

"No! My Toy-Rex is destroyed!" Frederick screamed.

"And so are your Life Points." Carrie reminded with a little smirk as the remainder of Frederick's Life Points went down to 0. Carrie's friends all cheered for her as the holograms of the game disappeared, while Jason sat there in complete shock. Frederick didn't even last 2 of Carrie's turns… she completely dominated him.

Frederick gave a groan as he fell onto his hands and knees, his face to the ground in humiliation. "I lost… and so quickly too… I didn't even get 1 hit on her…"

While Carrie went over to her friends to congratulations and cheers, Jason went over to Frederick and knelt down by him, putting his hand on his back to comfort him. "...Hey… for what it's worth, she really had a strong start there. You were just a bit unlucky is all."

"Don't even try to make me feel better, Jason." Frederick said with a sigh. "...I just don't get it… I know all of the rules of this game by heart… there are few cards that I don't know about… but even still, I can't ever seem to win a duel... " He sighed and looked at his deck. "...Maybe it's just that my deck is too weak. Maybe these cards aren't good enough."

"Nonsense." Jason answered and he slowly helped Frederick up. "Every card and deck has their own strengths and weaknesses, Fred. Your Deck just takes more time to get ready for what it wants to do is all, and that doesn't exactly match up well against Carrie's playstyle of getting all her key cards out on the Field as fast as she can."

Frederick didn't say anything in response as he just kept his eyes down. It felt hopeless for him. Just when he thought he could finally take advantage of the duel, something happens that makes him lose anyway. It didn't feel good for him at all.

"...I do have one question though." Jason said. "...When Carrie's Black Pom Pom activated its effect, you really seemed horrified about what card she banished from your Hand… what card was it that she got rid of?"

Frederick still didn't say a word in response, instead simply taking the banished card, which he had put back into his deck box, and handing it to Jason. When his friend took the card and looked at it, he became shocked at what he saw.

"Wondrous Toy Chest?" Jason questioned in surprise as he looked down at Frederick. "...Freddy, this is, like, one of your best cards. By activating it, you could have searched out one of your more powerful Toy or Figure Monsters, and then while it was face-up on the Field, you could Special Summon them right back from the Graveyard if something happened to them… you could have gotten a real good start with this card. Why didn't you activate it during your first turn?"

"Look, I know! I thought about it, alright?" Frederick snapped as he shook his head. "...I was going to activate that card… but then I got afraid that she may destroy it if I played it on the Field right away… so I decided to hang onto it for a better time to activate it."

"But that time didn't come, because it was gotten rid of before you could do anything with it." Jason said. "You second guessed yourself and played it way too safe… if you had activated this card, things may have been a lot different in that duel. But instead, you doubted yourself and your strategy, and ended up cheating yourself out of a potential victory."

"But how would I have known I would get the chance to use it?" Frederick countered. "How was I supposed to know she wouldn't have had a card that would counter it immediately upon activation?"

"That. Right there." came Carrie's voice as she walked up to the two. "That is why you lost this duel so easily."

Both of the boys looked up to see Carrie standing in front of them, a scowl on her face and her hands on her hips as she looked at Frederick. "C… Carrie…?"

"I overheard what your friend was telling you about that card you didn't play… and he's right." she said. "...If what he said about that card is true, then you could have at least lasted a few turns longer in our duel. Hell, depending on how you played it, you may have actually ended up beating me."

"Y… you really think so?" Frederick questioned in amazement.

"Yes, I do… but as we both know, that didn't happen. And that's exactly the problem." Carrie started. "You're way too tense… throughout the entire duel, you were constantly thinking only about possibilities of winning, and under the constant fear of making any mistakes. Because of your fear, you were too scared to make your plays, and ended up costing yourself the duel."

"Wh… what do you mean?" Frederick asked. "...That's the whole point of me thinking so much… to try not to make any mistakes and try to win the duel… that's what it's about, isn't it?"

Carrie gave a shake of her head and a sigh, clearly disappointed in what she just heard before speaking on. "No… that's not what it's about at all. In cheerleading, or in any sports at all, it's not about thinking and making sure that mistakes never happen… they will in one way or another… but in any of those cases, the real name of the game is giving it your all every second of the way, playing to your best and giving it your all no matter what. And whatever mistakes you do make, you learn from them and recover from them."

She then pointed at Frederick as she continued on. "And that's the nature of a duelist as well! Not being afraid of mistakes or thinking too much to make their big plays. It's about putting everything you are on that field to rise to the top. To play smart, yes, but not without being able to enjoy the game. Without that kind of spirit, you'll never be able to win in any duel you play."

Frederick gave a little gulp as he looked down in thought. Both Jason and Carrie were telling him the exact same thing… was he truly playing it too safe all the time? Could he have really made something happen if he was just brave enough to play his cards?

"Look… Frederick…" Carrie started again. "I'm sure you're not a bad duelist at all… but you let your insecurities in both yourself and your cards hold you back too much… how about this…? You go and you try to get some more confidence in yourself as a duelist, and then come back and face me when you actually are brave enough to know what you're doing. I'll be more than happy to face you again when you're ready."

"...Ok." Frederick answered with a little nod. "...I'll try."

"Good… now then… if you don't mind…" Carrie said as she looked at Jason. "...I believe you have a meal to pay for."

Jason held up his end of the bargain, paying for not just himself and Frederick, but also for Carrie and her friends. And yet, to Frederick's surprise, he didn't seem too bummed about it at all. In fact, he almost seemed happy as he was paying for everyone. Frederick was just surprised that Jason wasn't giving him Hell for losing him around $40.

Once they exited the restaurant, with Jason putting his duel disk back into his backpack, Frederick decided to bring up a question that he had asked Jason earlier. "Jason… how exactly are you able to do it…? Just being able to play the game for what it is, and loving every second of it without worrying about the thought of defeat?"

Jason gave a little bit of a shrug. "It's not something that comes easily, believe it or not." he said honestly. "It takes time and work to be able to do that… trust me. When I was a lot younger, I couldn't stand the thought of defeat… I even almost quit the game entirely because I didn't find any fun in losing over and over."

Frederick looked up at Jason in surprise when he heard that. Jason always seemed like such an easygoing guy, he never would have imagined Jason quitting the game at any point. "...But after a while, I taught myself to not care about winning or losing all the time. It's all about enjoying every second of the duel, whether or not you're winning… that's what I'm hoping you were able to take from your loss today, buddy."

Frederick was silent and gave a little nod. "...You both have given me quite a lot to think about, at least."

"One day… I hope you'll be able to play the card game without thinking about things too much." Jason teased with a chuckle. "...Come on. Let's get going now. Maybe we'll have a game or two of our own, to see what you've learned from that duel."

"Heh… maybe… that is if you'll be able to make it to my dorm." Frederick answered with a smirk as he suddenly began to run away towards his dorm.

"H-hey!" Jason yelled as he tried to run after Frederick. "Fred! That's not fair! You know I can't run after a feast!" He tried to keep up as best as he could, running after his best friend back to his dorm.


	3. A Lurking Shadow

Humiliation…

Disgrace…

Rage…

All of those words were the exact feelings and thoughts that plagued the now washed up Malcolm Alexson, who used to be able to brag that he was undefeated. Now, after one duel that should have been his from the very beginning, it all suddenly felt like the freight train to success he had been riding for a long time got into a crash that threw him out and left him in the dust.

Just a few short days ago, Malcolm was on top of the world. He had everything that he could have ever wanted: the power of an unstoppable Monster that nobody in the university could ever defeat, the respect and fear of everyone that was foolish enough to challenge him, and even a means of keeping himself out of any financial issues, thanks to the ante up duels that he had made all of his opponents participate in if they wanted a chance at him. At the time, he was a major success, and couldn't be touched.

But all of that came to a screeching halt, when he had met a duelist that he couldn't overcome in the form of Jason Titan. A naive fool who had the guts to challenge Malcolm with his entire Deck on the line, while all Malcolm had to lose was some card that he wouldn't have been able to use anyway. He had all of his Monsters out, all of the materials he needed to make it unstoppable, and a major advantage in Life Points. It should have been an easy victory.

Yet now, a week later, after his crushing defeat, all he could do was replay that final turn in his head over and over again, obsessively reminding himself how he, the strongest duelist in the entire university, could be beaten by some careless fool who took the entire card game as a joke, and play in his head the multiple scenarios where he could have done something different, or Jason wasn't able to draw that one Dragon that allowed him to build up his comeback in just that one short turn.

Ever since that defeat, it seemed like everything he had worked for up to that point had come crashing down right on top of him. Now, instead of being hailed and admired as the strongest duelist in the university, he was now just a footnote in the tale, stuck as the second banana while his thunder was completely stolen from him. Those that once respected and feared him now were inspired to defeat him and avenge their past losses, knowing that the infamous "Mal the Monster" was never unbeatable.

And to top it all off, the gang that he had once had traveling with him almost everywhere and backed him up whenever he needed it had abandoned him, deciding that he wasn't worth following anymore if he wasn't the strongest. In hindsight, Malcolm never really cared about any of those losers anyway, and only really saw them as a means to an end the whole time. He always worked alone, and looked out for himself only. Though even with that, it still was rather annoying at times, having to do literally everything himself now, without anyone that was willing to lend him a hand.

The worst part of all of it wasn't what he lost, however. It was how he lost it all that completely shattered his pride. All it took was just that one duel, a stroke of bad luck on his part. That's all that was needed to turn him from the champion of the university to a feast of blood that all of the tiny, annoying mosquitos were just itching to get a bite of. He supposed in the end, it wasn't quite untrue what they said, about how all it takes is just one bad day to bring it all crumbling down.

Though on the bright side of things, after he was defeated, there have been plenty of duelists that he had beaten in the past and taken cards from that were itching to get a rematch with him, hellbent on getting revenge for defeating them before. While it was annoying overall, Malcolm quickly was able to use that to his advantage, beating down all of his opponents once again, and showing them that, despite losing to Jason that one time, he was still nobody to be messed with.

"Your Mirror Wall isn't going to save you from the full force of my Dystopia, you understand. Not when all I have to do is banish my Level 1 Bunilla from my Graveyard to make it unaffected by your card for the rest of this battle." he said as he banished a card from his Graveyard. "Now you'll have no way of surviving the power of my Dystopia's attack. It's over, chump."

The young woman gave a little yell as she took the full force of Dystopia's direct attack, her Life Points dropping to 0 from that finishing blow, while Malcolm hadn't even lost a single Life Point. She dropped to her knees and looked at the ground. She was so sure that she would be able to defeat Malcolm this time, but he beat her just as easily as he did the last time.

"...You have a long ways to go yet before you can ever think of taking me down." Malcolm said with a scoff as he turned away, the holograms of the game disappearing. "I'm not in the mood to be taking anything from you… go on and get out of here, so I don't have to look at you anymore."

The girl gave a little huff as she stood slowly up, looking up at Malcolm with determined eyes. "You may still act all tough, and like nobody can touch you now…" she started. "...But mark my words, one of these days, I WILL beat you, and repay you for humiliating me the first time we dueled. Jason showed me and everyone else that you can be beaten, and I WILL beat you one day." She stood there for a few seconds, as if waiting for Malcolm to say something, but instead, he just stood there silently, his back still turned to the girl. Figuring that he had nothing to say, she turned around and left him, vowing to herself to never give up until she beat Malcolm.

Malcolm just stood there quietly, letting the words that the girl just told him seep into his mind, his fists tightening a little bit. The thought that he could actually be beaten… it was a fact that he never wanted to know, but now he, and the entire university knew it, and he absolutely hated it. He wasn't supposed to be a has-been that was only known for what he used to be able to do. He was Mal the Monster! His name was supposed to strike fear into anyone who could ever think they could be the best!

He gave an angry spit to the ground before storming to the parking lot where his motorcycle was parked. Once he got to his motorcycle, he started it up and barrelled out of the parking lot, and the campus. He was going at least 30 above the speed limit, but he didn't really care. If a crime had nothing to do with major robberies, kidnappings or murders, the police force they had was an absolute joke at handling them.

For the first 20 minutes of speeding down the highway, he really didn't know where he was going for sure. He had travelled this way many a time with his head heavy full of thoughts that he desperately needed to get rid of, just letting the speed of his motorbike and the highway itself take him wherever it did. But for the last few minutes of his riding, he decided not to kid himself any further. Whenever he went this way with unwanted thoughts, it always led him to the exact same place. And as he reached his destination, he proved to himself that this time was no different.

The Dark Alley of Nightmare, what was considered to be the criminal underbelly of the entire city, where crime and injustices were so common that they were practically a way of life. The place where very few officers would even dare to go, out of fear of just how many thugs were snooping around, with all the things they could and more than likely would do to them on sight. It was a place that was feared by almost everybody, and rightfully so.

For Malcolm, on the other hand, it was practically a second home to him. In fact, he would more than likely be telling the truth if he ever said that he had spent more time of his life in the alleyways than in his own home and the university combined. Not that he participated in most of the violence that happened there, or anything. The alleys were just what he knew most…

After reaching the entrance to the Dark Alley of Nightmare, he parked his motorcycle and double checked to make sure it was perfectly locked down, just in case someone got any funny ideas, and began to walk through the alleyways, his hands stuffed into his pockets and his head somewhat down towards the ground. There was almost nobody there at first, save for a few homeless people, asking for money, or sulking as they sat against the wall. Most of the crime that took place in these alleyways was deeper into them, and most of these homeless people were smart enough in keeping towards the surface to avoid it.

He kept walking a ways until he came across an individual standing against the wall, completely covered up by a trenchcoat and fedora that he wore to keep his identity a secret. As Malcolm was approaching him, he could feel the man smirking with delight. He was one of his more regular customers, after all, so the man always knew he could expect some business when he approached.

Just as the man had expected, Malcolm stopped when he was right in front of him and turned around to look at him. Despite neither of them saying a word, they both already knew the drill, as the man reached into his trenchcoat and pulled out a bottle of vodka and handed it to Malcolm. Without saying a word, Malcolm took the bottle and handed a small stack of money to the man. After counting the dollars he was handed to make sure he got the right amount, he gave a nod and waved to bid Malcolm adieu, Malcolm returning the nod as he walked deeper yet with the bottle in hand.

He came to a stop as soon as he saw a large trash bin with a lot of graffiti sprayed onto it; his landmark to know that he shouldn't be going any further into the alleyway. As soon as that came into his sights, he stopped walking and sighed as he sat against the wall, opening up his bottle and taking a big swig of it.

It would have been a real treat for everyone in the university to see, he was sure. The former best duelist in the university, completely washed up and drinking his problems away. He was just imagining the laughing and the mocking now, his grip on his bottle tightening a little bit just from the thought alone.

He was about to take another drink from the bottle, when he suddenly felt his phone from inside his pocket begin to vibrate. Someone was calling him, but who? Perhaps it was some of those former 'friends' of his were finally coming crawling back to him, begging to hang out with him again after seeing him beat down so many of those who were foolish enough in following in Jason's steps. Or perhaps some other smartass got ahold of his number and was trying to phone a challenge to him.

It took him a couple of vibrations from his phone before he finally gave up and took his phone out to see just who was calling him. As he saw who it was that was calling him, however, his eyes went wide, his blood turned icy cold and he almost completely dropped his bottle The number that was on there… he recognized that number. But he hadn't seen it for almost a decade now.

With a little sigh, expecting the worse, he answered the phone, slowly getting up before finally holding the phone to his ear and speaking. "Hello? What do you want?" he grumbled.

"Heheheh… that's no way to be greeting an old friend, now is it, 'Mal the Monster'?" the person on the other side of the call said, his familiar voice haunting Malcolm and shaking him to his core a bit. "How is my former undefeated duelist doing ever since his loss?"

Malcolm was dead silent for a few seconds, just letting what had just been said sink in. "...H… how do you know about that?"

"Hohoh, Mal. You didn't really think our last conversation was going to be it, did you?" the man questioned. "I've been keeping tabs on you ever since you first set out on your own. And I must say, for the past couple of years now, I've been rather impressed with what you've managed to accomplish for yourself. Shame you had to go and ruin it for yourself."

Malcolm gave a little bit of a snarl and shook his head before responding. "'Ruin it for myself' my ass… I'm still going about crushing anyone who thinks they're foolish enough to challenge me. Besides, it was just one duel that I lost." he spat back.

"Just one duel, hm? Well, from what I've seen that 'just one duel' is the duel that undid everything you did. Everybody used to be afraid to challenge you, thinking that you were completely unbeatable. And now, after that 'just one duel', you've gone from the respected Mal the Monster to a target for everyone else."

Malcolm was silent as he stood there, his breathing escalating a little bit as he waited for the person he was speaking with to continue.

"...I told you when I let you go to never let anyone be better than you, didn't I?" he continued. "To crush anyone that stood in your way and not let anyone get ahead of you. And after everything I did for you, you repay me by spitting on everything I've taught you?"

"Look. I told you it was just one duel." Malcolm repeated firmly. "That punk, Jason, just got lucky, that's all. All I need is just one more match with him. I can crush him the next time we duel, and teach him why nobody messes with Mal the Monster."

"Hmph… quite a bold statement, given how badly he beat you the last time." the man started. "...However, as crazy as it might be, I'm inclined to believe you… that's why I'm going to give you a second chance, Malcolm."

"A second chance…? What's that supposed to mean?"

"What it means, Malcolm, is I'm going to hold off in paying you a visit and taking back what I gave you." the man clarified. "...As of this very moment, I'm giving you 3 weeks to rematch, and defeat, this Jason that made a mockery out of you. If, by the next time I check up on you, you've gotten your revenge and are back on top where you belong, then I'll leave you be. But if you lose to him again, or you don't duel him again by the time those 3 weeks are up, I'll be coming by to take back that card I gave you, seeing as how you would have proven yourself too weak to use it."

Malcolm gave a little growl and responded in a very firm, threatening tone. "You will take nothing from me… Dystopia the Despondent is mine, and mine alone. You got that?"

The man on the other end of the call gave a hearty laugh, as if Malcolm had just told him the funniest joke ever. "Grown quite attached to that card, have we? I suppose it's no surprise, seeing as how you have that card to thank for getting you were you were just a week ago… just don't forget who gave you that card, Malcolm… I'll be seeing you soon… if you mess up again, that is. So I suggest you start getting ready for that rematch, boy." With nothing more to say, he hung up on Malcolm.

"Man, to Hell with you!" Malcolm yelled as he stuffed his phone back into his pocket and walked a bit away from the wall. He took another drink from his bottle, letting a loud, heavy breath out as soon as he finished it and put the cap back on the bottle.

"To Hell with that jerk… and to Hell with all of those chumps who keep challenging me. And to Hell with that university as a whole!" he yelled, stumbling a little bit as he looked back down at the bottle in his hand. "...And above all else… to Hell with that chump who beat me in a duel… it's all his fault… it's because of him that my life is ruined…"

"Aw, come on, Mal! Lighten up a little bit."

That voice… that annoying, optimistic voice that burned its way into Malcolm's nightmares… he slowly turned to the left and saw him there; the chump who had humiliated him and made him into a laughing stock for everyone to see.

"Y… you…" Malcolm growled as he stumbled back a little bit. "...What are you doing here…?"

"What does it look like? I saw that you were being a sour puss about our duel, so I decided to come and get that spring back in your step." Jason said with a little grin. "After all, like you said, it was just one duel, right? So what if you lost everything you had worked up for to that point, and lost your undefeated title, while also being doomed to live in my shadow and never be able to defeat me. At least there are potentially other duels to be had, right?"

He was mocking him. Malcolm knew it from just how he spoke. With a loud groan, he turned away from Jason. "Just leave me to die in piece, you chump."

"Woah. Hey there. That's no way to be talking to the duelist who proved that he was superior to you in every way, now is it? You know what two things always cheer me up when I'm feeling down? A smorgasbord, and a really good duel to get the blood pumping. I mean, I don't know how much of a good duel I can have with you, given last time."

"I told you, take your gluttonous ass out of here and leave me alone." Malcolm growled as he gripped his bottle tightly.

"Oh, that's right. I remember now. You don't duel people unless there's something on the line, right? Alright then. Let's make it more exciting for you. If I win our duel, you hand over that Dystopia the Despondent card of yours, since you apparently want to hold onto it from that one guy." Jason said, completely ignoring what Malcolm just said. "Of course, I don't know what exactly you would want me to wager on my end. After all, there'd really be no point to it, since we both already know that I'm gonna win the duel." He began to laugh loudly, his voice ringing through Malcolm's head and beating on his skull like a hammer.

That was when Malcolm had had enough, and turned around swiftly, his knuckles turning white from how hard he was gripping his bottle now. "Laugh at this, you son of a bitch!" he yelled as he threw the bottle of vodka right at Jason. Rather than hit him, however, the bottle went straight through him, going to the wall and breaking apart as it crashed into there, shards of glass and vodka spilling all throughout the ground.

At the sound of the glass shattering, Malcolm watched, his breathing hard and short as he watched the vision he was having of Jason fade out of existence, leaving him completely alone in the alleyway. He had just imagined him… Jason wasn't really there… and now, because of that vision, he was now left without his bottle of vodka.

"Damn you, Jason Titan… I'll pay you back for this humiliation you've put onto me. Mark my words." Malcolm growled as he tightened his fists. "...You and your Pure Chaos Deck will feel just how strong I really am."

"Heheheh… well well, what have we here?" came an older man's voice from deeper into the alleyway as he stepped out of the shadows with a big, smug grin on his face. He was wearing a black cloak over his body that left his torso completely covered, but the bottom half of his legs revealed and showing him wearing a pair of dark khakis and black shoes. "The proud, strong Mal the Monster, coming to mingle with the scum of the underbelly?"

Hearing that familiar voice, Malcolm slowly turned around to look at the man grinning at him, instantly recognizing that light gray hair, those dull gray eyes, and that hideous grin that would make some less brave individuals turn and run for it.

"Hey… I know who you are…" Malcolm started. "...You're that old man that I won that Winged Love Princess card off of, aren't you?"

The man laughed a little bit and nodded. "I'm quite pleased that you remember me." he said as his grin turned into a menacing scowl as he looked harshly at Malcolm. "After all… I could never forget the one who beat me and took the card I worked so hard to get my hands on."

"And just what do you want from me… more importantly, what are you doing here in these parts?" Malcolm questioned, sounding quite uninterested as he did, as he didn't really care too much for the man in front of him.

"Hohoh. I could be asking you the same thing, boy." the old man responded with a little laugh. "After all, this place is my area of business, after all. I've made both my business and home in these alleyways, away from the seeing eyes of whatever officials may try to restrict the natural way that we humans were intended to stay on top."

"Heh. How poetic of you." Malcolm mocked with a little scoff. "...I suppose I should have known you were more shady than I thought when I first laid eyes on you… though I have to give you some credit. Not many of your kind would dare to slither out onto the open streets at any point."

"My kind? And what exactly does that make you, now that you're in here with the rest of the scum of the earth? Hm?"

"I only come here because I know this place far too well… that's all."

"And I was only out there in order to obtain something that I could make quite a bit of money off of." the man responded back with that grin back on his face and a little bit of a shrug. "I just so happened to have been on my way back when I ran into you and thought I could get something out of you. But it seemed like you were able to cheat me out of victory that time."

"Oh, that's just delightful." Malcolm said sarcastically. "And I assume that you're coming to me, wanting to duel me again after me kicking the crap out of you the last time?"

"You assume correctly." the man responded as he twirled around dramatically. "You took me down way too easily last time, and I want another go at you."

"And just what makes you think that I would waste my time on an old, pathetic man such as yourself?" Malcolm asked as he crossed his arms. "If I recall correctly, the last time I dueled you, you couldn't so much as even scratch one Life Point off of me. Your Deck was so weak that you attempted to take control of and use my cards instead of your own, because you couldn't challenge me any other way."

"Indeed. And I didn't really expect to be able to win that duel." the man answered with a little grin and a shrug. "After all, as you said, the deck that I used was simply so weak. How could I ever have planned to defeat someone like you?"

"You're not going to tell me that you went easy on me…"

"Oh, not at all, my boy… not directly, at least. You see, when I dueled you, I was using a deck that I had hurriedly thrown together right before I decided to exit these alleyways. I knew that if I used my real deck, I would be drawing way too much attention to myself. I had to stay as discreet as possible, and so I couldn't use my real deck when we first met."

"What are you…" Malcolm started before shaking his head. "How do you expect playing a few cards is going to give out anything about you?"

"I could explain it to you… but seeing as how you're not up to speed with the crime that goes on in these parts, you probably wouldn't understand a word I say. But perhaps you will after our duel… tell you what? Why don't you come follow me to where I keep my duel disk and my deck? We'll have our rematch, and see how much you stand a chance with my real deck."

Malcolm was silent for a few seconds as he began to weigh his options. This guy was a creep, and people in those alleyways were almost never to be trusted. For all he knew, this was all a trap, and the moment he and the man got too deep into the alleyways, he would be ambushed and robbed of what little he had left after his failure, or possibly just straight up murdered.

But at the same time, he was curious about this "real deck" that this old man was talking about. It seemed very unlikely that having a few different cards would have changed the outcome of the duel, and every bit of his logic screamed at him to ignore the man and walk away. But at the same time, his curiosity was begging him to entertain the man for at least a little bit. Besides, if the man was worried about giving himself away by using a few cards, maybe they were really special cards that were worth getting a look at.

"...I shouldn't even be taking the time in talking with you, you know that?" Malcolm started, to which the man simply smirked in amusement, and waited for the answer. "...But I suppose there isn't very much I have to lose at this point… alright then. I'll duel you again, just this one time."

"Splendid! I've been dying to give these cards of mine another try, and who better to do so with than someone that managed to beat me the first time we met?" he questioned as he gestured Malcolm to follow him. "Come along now. This way."

For a split second, Malcolm began to immediately regret his decision, but decided that there wasn't any backing down now. He stuffed his hands in his pocket and began to follow the man. As they continued to walk, Malcolm's eyes were darting back and forth, on the lookout for anything suspicious that would tip him off to get out of there. His left hand also clutched a small pocket knife that he had on him at all times, in case of emergencies, just in case he was forced to defend himself.

"...You haven't really been this deep in the alleyways, have you?" the man questioned with a little amused chuckle. "You're breathing so loud, any of the two-bit thugs that are aiming to commit their first crime would be able to find you in the darkest night without a flashlight… no need to be nervous, my friend. As long as you're with me, nobody will try anything on you. They know better to stay in their places."

It wasn't very much comfort for Malcolm, but he took what he could as they continued to walk. As they got deeper in, he began to see several other people in the alleyways, doing all sorts of things. Polishing their weapons, both for sale and for personal use, getting into drunk arguments and threatening to blow the others away, and of course, using all sorts of substances that, in any other part of the city, they would be arrested immediately just for possessing. It just went to show Malcolm just how incompetent the police force of the city really was, particularly in the Dark Alley of Nightmare.

As they continued to walk, he noticed from the corner of his eyes as one of the people that were fiddling with his handgun noticed his presence. He gave a little amused smirk and began to stand up and walk ominously towards him. Malcolm held his breath and gripped his pocket knife tightly, ready to throw down should the man try something.

His guide seemed to have noticed Malcolm's change in breathing, and came to a stop as he looked over his shoulder, his eyes falling to the man that was now trailing them, giving him a glare that would have made the thug drop dead on his feet if looks could kill. The thug came to a halt as he saw the look the man was giving him, slowly backing off and going back to what he was doing with his gun, while still glancing up at the other two from time to time.

"See? What did I tell you, Mal?" the old man questioned with a little nod as Malcolm looked back at him, surprised. "These rats wouldn't dare try anything as long as you're under my protection. That's one of the many benefits to having respect here in the alleyways."

Mal was silent for a moment as the two continued on with their trek, the man humming a little song to himself as they went. It sounded like "Pop Goes the Weasel", but he was humming it in a lower key and tempo than it usually is played, making it sound much more menacing than it usually was.

"...Just who are you, anyway?" Malcolm finally asked after mustering up enough courage, once they got to a point in the alleyway where there didn't appear to be anyone else.

"Hmph… call me Lou, if you must call me by anything." the man answered before raising his arm up, gesturing Malcolm to stop. "...We're here now. Stay right there. I'll be right back."

Malcolm watched as the man went over to a part of the wall that seemed a bit different than the rest of it, and began carefully taking some of the parts of it out. He had to admit, for someone who apparently made their living in the Dark Alley of Nightmare, Lou seemed like more of an honest man than he could have imagined.

After some digging of the wall, Lou had finally gotten his deck and his duel disk out of the wall. His duel disk looked like the standard one that Malcolm had, but seemed to be completely colored black, with the edges looking so sharp, if someone really wanted to, they could probably decapitate someone with it. He put all the parts of the wall back on before finally putting his duel disk on and putting his deck in.

"Thank you for being so patient." he said with a smirk as his duel disk lit up. "Now, you're about to get your first taste of cards that you've never seen before."

"Heh. We'll see about that." Malcolm answered as he got his own duel disk and deck out, getting his duel disk on and inserting his deck, activating his duel disk as well.

"LET'S DUEL!"

A few other people in the alleyways began to appear once again, surrounding the two duelists as they realized that a duel was going around. Malcolm looked around at all of the crowd that now circled around them, giving a little nervous shudder as he did. He was used to dueling with crowds, but not crowds full of people that could probably kill him on a whim.

"Wishing you could back down, are you? Sorry, but it's too late now." Lou said with a smirk as they both drew their opening hands. "But hey. I'm a nice guy, so I'll start off simply, by activating my Briber's Insurance Spell Card!" he played his Spell Card, and a small sack of gold appeared strapped to his waist. "While business is always about making as much as you possibly can, sometimes you gotta use it to get anything done." he said. "While my Briber's Insurance is on my side of the Field, I'm only allowed to activate 1 other Spell/Trap Card each turn."

"You're limiting yourself to 1 Spell or Trap card a turn for just a lousy sack of gold?" Mal questioned.

"Hmhmhm. Unlike you, I'm perfectly aware of the rewards to come for the limitations of my Briber's Insurance. Benefits you'll find out for yourself soon enough. For my other Spell Card for the turn, I'm activating another Continuous Spell Card, Scouting Binoculars!" A pair of binoculars appeared, strapped over the back of his neck. "And I think I'll end my turn there."

"By leaving your Life Points completely open. Seems you didn't learn too much from our last duel after all. I draw." Malcolm responded as he looked at the cards he had at hand, his eyes immediately falling to the 4th of the first 5 cards he drew. "_I already have my Dystopia the Despondent in my Hand on my very first turn. Looks like crushing this guy will be just as easy as it was the last time._"

"Are you thinking of what to do with the cards in your Hand, or are you simply admiring them?" Lou mocked with a smirk. "Hurry up and make your move."

"In a hurry to lose again, huh? Very well then." Malcolm said as he started playing some of his cards. "First, I'll place one card face-down, then I'll Summon my Oppressed People in Attack Mode!"

"In Attack Mode, with only 400 ATK Points?" Lou questioned with an amused hum. "You're either very brave or foolish to summon it in Attack Mode like that, when its DEF is so much higher."

"Well, if this "real" deck of yours is anything like what I've already seen, then you're not going to be able to do much about it regardless." Malcolm answered back simply before pointing at Lou. "Go, Oppressed People! Attack Lou directly!"

"Hmph. Then that's a mistake you're going to pay for most dearly." Lou answered as he watched as the Oppressed People came towards him. "Since you're attempting to attack me, I'll go ahead and activate the effect of my Briber's Insurance!" He reached into the sack and took out a large handful of gold coins, the amount of which being much more than what should have been able to fit in that bag. He tossed the coins towards the Oppressed People, who completely stopped in their tracks, completely forgetting their command to attack, and instead began to collect as many of the coins on the ground as they could.

"Heh. Quite amazing what a bit of bribery will do to even the loyal, don't you agree?" Lou questioned, surprising Malcolm as the attack didn't go off. "Thanks to the effect of my Briber's Insurance, once per turn, if you would attempt to declare an attack on me, or activate a Spell, Trap or Monster Effect, I can have that activation or attack negated. In exchange for that, you get to draw 1 additional card."

"...Is that so?" Malcolm questioned as he slowly drew an additional card from his Deck.

"Of course. After all, it wouldn't be a bribery if there wasn't something in it for you, now would it?" Lou questioned. "Like I said, sometimes you have to pay a few annoyances off to get what you want, but that's business for you, however underhanded it may be."

"Whatever. I didn't come here for business advice. Just make your move."

"With pleasure, my young friend. I draw." Lou drew his card and then smirked. "And now, I'll be activating the ability of my Scouting Binoculars. Once per turn, during my Standby Phase, I'm allowed to either look at one of your Set cards and then return it to its original position, or look at 1 card of my choosing from your Hand. And I'll go ahead and do the latter." He took ahold of his binoculars and held them over his eyes as he looked at Malcolm's hand. "Now… let's have a looksee…"

Malcolm was silent as he waited quietly for Lou to go any further. After seeing the card he was looking at, Lou began to chuckle a little bit, followed by full on laughter. "My, oh my. It looks like the rich just get richer." he said before he played a Monster. "Now, I'm going to be summoning one of my partners in crime! Say hello to my Magical Thief!"

As he played the card, a Monster appeared that Malcolm had never seen before. She wore khaki pants and a white shirt under a black, unbuttoned trench coat, and had a brown belt on that held a small sack, like the one on Lou, and a blue potion of sorts in a glass vial. She had flowing blonde hair and cherry red lips, while her eyes were completely covered by a brown hat that she wore. Her information showed her to be a Level 4 DARK Spellcaster-Type with 1800 ATK and 600 DEF.

"Alright… that might be just a little bit worrying." Mal admitted when he realized his Oppressed People was still stuck in ATK Mode.

"Oh, and it only gets worse for you." Lou answered back with a smirk. "You see, my Magical Thief has quite the powerful ability when she's Normal Summoned or Special Summoned. She allows me to look into your Hand and choose 1 card in it to add to my own. But don't bother having to show me the hand. I already saw the card that I wanted with my Scouting Binoculars during my Standby Phase."

"I really hope you don't mean…" Mal started, feeling his blood grow cold again.

"Since I wasn't able to take control of your prized card in our last duel, I think I'll just take it from you now before you have a chance to summon it. So go on then." Lou said with a grin as he pointed at Malcolm. "Hand over your Dystopia the Despondent, Mal!"

Malcolm gave a groan as he heard those words, looking at his main Monster in his hand. He couldn't believe it. He wasn't even getting the chance to play him yet, and this creep was snatching him right from his hand.

"...Fine. Seems like I have no choice." Malcolm said as he hesitantly walked over to Lou and handed over his Dystopia the Despondent. "Take it."

"With pleasure." Lou responded as he took the card and added it to his hand. "You talk such a big game while you have your star player around… so let's see just how much your deck crumbles when you can't use him." Mal made no response as he walked back to his spot. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Lou had a point. Just about the whole strategy of his Deck revolved around Dystopia, and now he just lost it.

"Don't feel bad, Mal. As long as you win this duel, you'll be reunited with your card." Lou said with a snicker. "But now without him, I doubt you'll be able to achieve that… for now, though, let's get back to the duel. Now, my Magical Thief! Attack and destroy his Oppressed People now!"

Magical Thief brandished two small throwing knives in her right hand and threw them both expertly at the Oppressed People, hitting her mark perfectly. The Oppressed People were destroyed, and Mal growled as he took 1400 points of damage.

"Not too bad, for a weak old man whose deck can't even scratch your Life Points, isn't it?" Lou mocked with a scoff. "But it only gets worse for you. You see, when my Magical Thief inflicts Battle Damage to your Life Points, she allows me to take one card in my hand and shuffle it back into my deck."

"Oh yeah? And just what's the point in that?" Mal questioned. "Why would you want to get rid of your own advantage like that?"

"I have my reasons, reasons that you probably won't last long enough to see." Lou answered. "But for now, I think I'll just go ahead and shuffle the card I just took from you into my deck."

"But wait a minute!" Malcolm fired back. "That card is my card! Since you're attempting to shuffle it back into the deck, it will come back into my deck!"

"Heheheh. How wrong you are." Lou answered. "Under normal circumstances, that would be the case. However, if you look at my Magical Thief's effect, you'll see that it clearly states I shuffle the card into MY deck, not THE deck. So despite it being your card, I follow the rules of the effect, and shuffle it into MY deck."

"Rrgh! You thief! What's the point of stealing my card if you're just going to put it back into your deck?!"

"Oh, my dear boy. I don't need your Dystopia the Despondent." Lou responded as he took the card and shuffled it into his deck. "I just need for you to not have it. Your entire strategy, and your deck, is completely crippled. Without your precious Dystopia, there's no way you can defeat me." He placed a card face-down and nodded. "So go ahead and make your turn."

"Hang on just a second. I'm not out of this just yet. During your End Phase, I reveal my Trap Card! Human-Wave Tactics!" he yelled as his card flipped face-up. "With this Trap Card, during the End Phase, I can Special Summon any Level 2 or lower Normal Monsters straight from my Deck, equal to the number of Monsters that were destroyed on my side of the Field during this turn."

"And I could just as easily negate that effect with my Briber's Insurance…" Lou started before shrugging. "But what the heck? I'll humor you and let you summon your weak little Monster."

"We'll just see how weak he is while he's guarding my Life Points. I Special Summon my Charcoal Impachi in Defense Mode! And now, I start my turn." He drew his next card and gave a little nod. "Now, I'm activating my Spell Card, Where Arf Thou?! This card can only be activated while I control a face-up Level 1 Monster. Since I do, I get to add 1 Level 1 Monster from my deck to my hand, but I take 2000 points of damage if I don't Normal Summon the card I just added on that turn. I'll use my Spell Card's effect to add my Bunilla to my Hand."

"Clever, Mal. But not nearly good enough." Lou answered with a grin. "If you want to add that Monster to your hand, then you're going to be doing so on my terms. Activate Trap Card! Destructive Conditions!"

Malcolm watched as his Trap Card was flipped face-up; yet another card that he had never heard of. "Destructive Conditions? What in the world does that do?"

"You're about to find out." After Lou said that, a gun had suddenly appeared in his hand, to which he pointed at Malcolm without any hesitation.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Malcolm exclaimed. "What the Hell is this?! I thought you wanted to duel me, not kill me!"

"Relax. This is all part of the duel." Lou responded nonchalantly. "Now listen up. We're going to play a little game now; a game that can only be played when you attempt to add a card from your deck to your hand, except by drawing it. Here's how it works. You take that card that you just added to your hand, then you shuffle it back into the deck, and draw 1 card. You then reveal the card you just drew. If it's a copy of the card you just attempted to add to your hand, then you get the card no problem. But if it's something else, then not only does that card get removed from the game, but you lose 1000 Life Points, which will go to yours truly."

"So basically, what you're saying is that I now have, at most, a 3/32 chance of getting the card I wanted in the first place? That doesn't seem like very fair odds."

"They're called 'destructive' for a reason, Malcolm. You have to be ruthless to get what you want, after all. Now, play the game."

Malcolm gave a little sigh, deciding that he really didn't have any choice. He held his Bunilla card up to show that he was shuffling in the correct card before putting it back into his deck and shuffling it, hoping that he had some good luck on his side. Hologram or not, he didn't feel like getting shot at the moment.

He stopped shuffling and looked up at Lou as soon as he did. "Very good… now… go on ahead and draw, and let's see if luck is on your side."

Malcolm was silent again as he hesitantly took up the top card and looked at Lou. He didn't even look at it himself as he began hoping, praying even, that everything worked out for him. After a prayer or two, he finally flipped the card over to show it to Lou.

As soon as Lou saw the card, he gave the most menacing grin and began to laugh. Malcolm's heart sank as he heard this, as he knew that didn't mean Malcolm got what he wanted. "Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think The League of Uniform Nomenclature has the same name as Bunilla. What do you think, Mal?"

Malcolm gave a little grunt and a gulp. "Well… you played the game, and you lost. You know what that means." Before Malcolm even had a chance to respond, Lou pulled the trigger, Malcolm screaming out in pain as he fell onto his knees, feeling as if something had just pierced right through his heart. Hologram or not, it hurt like Hell. Malcolm almost didn't believe that he was just losing 1000 Life Points from pain like that.

"Thank you for playing, and thank you for the Life Points." Lou responded smugly as his Life Points went up to 9000, while Malcolm's dropped down to a comparatively smaller 5600. Not only that, and not only did he lose one of his League of Uniform Nomenclatures, but since Malcolm had no way of Normal Summoning Bunilla, he was going to lose an additional 2000 Life Points at the end of the turn.

"Guess… you can play… with those new cards… after all." he groaned as he forced himself back unto his feet and placed two more cards face-down. "I'll… end my turn from there." He gave a small hiss as he felt himself lose yet another 2000 Life Points.

"Man. This is almost kind of pitiful. You really are nothing without your precious Dystopia." Lou commented before drawing a card. He gave a little hum and drew his next card, grinning once again. "Ooh! Looks like things are gonna get even worse for you now. Because along with my Magical Thief, I'm going to be summoning yet another one of my partners in crime. Say hello to the Bandit of the Badlands!"

Another Monster came up, this time, wearing a brown pair of boots, along with a pair of jean shorts and a royal blue tank top that left her belly completely exposed. She also wore a cap of sorts and had long orange hair, while her yellow eyes almost seemed to have a certain glow to them. Her stats showed her to be a Level 4 EARTH Warrior-Type with 1400 ATK and 1100 DEF.

"Another Monster… but she won't do you any good. Both of your Monsters' ATKs are too low to penetrate the DEF of my Charcoal Impachi. As long as I still have him out to protect me, the rest of my Life Points are safe."

"Hmhmhmhm. How wrong you are, my friend." Lou answered. "Their ATKs may not be high enough to get through your Charcoal Impachi… but that doesn't matter, because now both of them are going to become something even stronger… with my Level 4 Magical Thief, and my Level 4 Bandit of the Badlands, I build the overlay network!"

"You what?!" Malcolm exclaimed in shock as he watched as the two Monsters suddenly vanished into a dark purple and brown aura respectively and flew up into the sky.

"With these two as the materials, I'm allowed to XYZ Summon one of my favorite Monsters, the one that's going to lead to your demise! Descend now! Number 70: Malevolent Sin!"

From the sky where the two previous Monsters had disappeared, descended a very large blue spider, with the number 70 being on its body in red. It landed onto the ground, causing several in their audience to take steps back in repulsion of the creature that was just summoned.

"A big bad spider… you trying to duel me or trying to scare me?" Malcolm questioned as he looked at the spider.

"Hmhmhmhm… you won't be cracking jokes for much longer, Mal. With 2400 ATK coming from my new friend here, you're about to get a lot more than you bargained for."

"That doesn't matter. Don't forget that I still have my Charcoal Impachi on the Field with me. If you want to get to my Life Points, you'll have to get through him first."

"Oh, that will be my pleasure, and pathetically simple." Lou responded. "You see, when I XYZ Summoned my Number 70: Malevolent Sin, the two Monsters that I used for the summoning became XYZ Materials for it, which I can now detach to activate its effect. So now, I detach my Magical Thief from it, in order to banish your Charcoal Impachi."

"You can't be serious!" Malcolm exclaimed as he watched his Charcoal Impachi disappear before his very eyes. "That Charcoal Impachi… it was my only defense!"

"Don't be too concerned. You'll be getting it back soon enough. A Monster that's banished by the effect of my XYZ Monster returns back to your Field during the Standby Phase." Lou responded with a smirk. "But one turn without that Impachi is more than enough to cause you some pain. Show him what I mean, Malevolent Sin! Attack him directly!"

The large blue spider crawled swiftly to Malcolm and bit him on the shoulder, causing Malcolm to scream out in pain as his Life Points went down again to just 1200.

"And there's something else you should be made aware of." Lou said with a chuckle. "Since my Malevolent Sin successfully declared an attack, I'm allowed to activate its second effect, increasing its Rank by 3, and increasing its ATK by 300." His spider slowly began to grow in size, soon towering over Malcolm. "Now, with 2700 ATK points staring you down, and without your precious fiend in backing you up, you're not going to be able to defeat me. Even when your Charcoal Impachi comes back, I'll just be able to banish it again with my second XYZ Material, and anything else my Malevolent Sin destroys will only make it stronger."

"This game isn't over just yet…" Malcolm said, though he didn't sound too convinced himself as he drew a card. The only thing he could do at the moment was play defensively. "I'll place one Monster face-down… that's all I can do for now."

"Very well then. Then I draw." Lou said as he drew and then took his binoculars and looked at the card Malcolm just put on his field. "Hmmmm… an Oppressed People, hm? Well, that's no threat to me at all. So for now, I'll simply have my Malevolent Sin attack again. Make a meal out of that face-down Monster!"

The spider crawled over towards the face-down card, which flipped face-up to reveal an Oppressed People once it got there. With a little hiss, the spider voraciously devoured the Monster, allowing it to grow once more and gain another 300 ATK, as well as raise its Rank by 3.

"And I think I have an idea of what you're trying to do. Using your Human-Wave Tactics to keep your Field full of weaker Monsters, so we wouldn't be able to simply banish a Monster to get to your Life Points, correct?" Lou questioned with a smirk. "Well, I'm not going to let that happen. During my End Phase, I'll go ahead and negate the effect of your Human-Wave Tactics. Go on ahead and draw your card."

Malcolm gave a little gulp and let a drop of sweat run down from his forehead as he stared at the now larger XYZ Monster, slowly drawing his card from Briber's Insurance. None of the Monsters in his Deck had enough DEF to be able to withstand that card's massive ATK, and any effects that Malcolm could try with his card effects could be negate through Lou's Briber's Insurance. Sure, it was only once per turn, but that one time could be all that was needed to keep Malcolm from doing anything. And with the Life Point difference now going as high as 7800, Malcolm wasn't really sure how he was going to be able to win this.

"I told you, this duel was going to be a lot different with these special cards of mine." Lou reminded with a snicker. "You thought that your Dystopia would net you an easy win, just like all of your other duels, didn't you? Well, that's the price you pay for relying solely on one Monster to get anything done. All I had to do was take from you your most important resource, and now you're left, completely helpless against my XYZ Monster."

"Not yet I'm not." Malcolm answered as he stood tall, trying to mask all of his nervousness and fear from both Lou and the crowd that quietly watched on. "...No matter how much of an advantage you take from me now, that isn't going to last long. In fact, it's going to end right now. I"m going to win this duel on my next turn!"

"You honestly think you can win still?!" Lou yelled before laughing. "Even without the one card you relied on to do all of your work for you, you honestly think you have a chance at beating me?! Let alone on your next turn?!"

"Not a doubt in my mind. This turn, you're going down." Malcolm said as he looked at his Hand and gave a little grumble under his breath. He was almost starting to sound like that idiot Jason now… but at the same time, he couldn't help but think that this was the exact same position Jason was in in their duel… he was completely against the wall, with seemingly no way of turning the duel around, and yet he managed to pull through with just one draw…

"_If that chump can manage to luck out and beat me in just one turn… then I can do the same as well!_" Malcolm thought, his eyes flaring up with a familiar determination. "_I am Mal the Monster… the strongest duelist in all of my university… I have a stronger Deck than any of my peers could ever dream! He may take away my strongest card… but he will never take away my pride! Nobody can take that from me! Nobody!_"

"It's my turn!" Malcolm said as he drew his card. His eyes widened a little bit. He had something he might be able to do… he looked at one of his face-down cards and the cards in his hand. If he played his cards right, he could truly win that game then and there… maybe… "First, I'll go ahead and switch my Charcoal Impachi into Attack Mode!" On order, the Charcoal Impachi slowly stood up from its kneeling position.

"So much for planning to beat me. You've given up." Lou said with a little snicker. "Why else would you put a 100 ATK Monster in Attack Position, with a 3000 ATK Monster staring it down?"

"You're about to find out." Malcolm answered with a smirk. "But first, I have a Trap card of my own to activate. Now I activate the Trap Card, Dust Tornado! By activating this card, I can choose to destroy any Spell or Trap card on your side of the Field! And I'll go ahead and destroy your Briber's Insurance!"

"You really think that I would allow you to do something like that to my Spell Card?!" Lou spat with a grin. "I'm not allowing it, Malcolm! I'll use my Continuous Spell Card's effect to negate the effect of your Dust Tornado! So go ahead and draw your card, because my Briber's Insurance is here to stay!"

"I was really hoping you would say that." Malcolm said with a little smirk. "I knew that you wouldn't allow such a valuable Spell Card of yours to be destroyed so easily. That's why I decided to try to destroy it right away with my Dust Tornado!"

"Oh yeah? And how does that plan exactly work out for you? You waste your Trap Card and have nothing else you can do but try to stall me out?"

"Are you forgetting the other qualities of your Spell card so soon?" Malcolm questioned with a smirk. "Since you activated the effect of your Briber's Insurance, I'm allowed to draw 1 card from my Deck." He drew his card and gave a little grin as he looked back at Lou. "Not only that, but as you said, your Briber's Insurance is a once per turn card. Which means that since you already activated its effect this turn, you can't use it again until the next turn."

"Fine then. What does that matter? Just make your move already. No extra draw is going to be able to save you."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that. But why take it from me when you can take it from my Trap Card? League of Uniform Nomenclature!" He flipped his face-down card up, revealing the Trap card. "Since I have my Charcoal Impachi face-up on my Field, I can Special Summon any number of Monsters with the same name as it from my Deck. So now I'll bring out my second and third copy of Charcoal Impachi! Both in the same position as their sibling!"

Two more Charcoal Impachis rose up on each side of the first one, all of them standing in ATK Mode, just like the first one. "But I'm not done yet! Next, I'm activating my Spell Card! One for One! Thanks to this card, I can send my D. D. Trainer from my Hand to the Graveyard, and Special Summon a Level 1 Monster from my Hand or Deck! And I'll Special Summon my final copy of Oppressed People from my Deck!" He put the 4th Monster on his side of the Field, once again in ATK Mode. "But I'm still not done yet! Because now I'm Normal Summoning my second copy of D. D. Trainer to my side of the Field!"

"Heh. So you managed to get 5 weak Monsters on your side of the Field. Big deal!" Lou said with a cross of his arms. "Go ahead and end your turn."

"Well, you were right about one thing, Lou." Malcolm said with a smirk as he held the two remaining cards in his Hand. "It's a VERY big deal, and it's all thanks to you allowing me to draw from your Briber's Insurance. Because the Spell Card you allowed me to draw…" He gave a little yell as he threw the card onto his duel disk. "Is the Spell Card! Triangle Power!"

As he activated the card, red triangles of light came from the sky and surrounded the feet of all of the Monsters on Malcolm's side of the FIeld. "This is how this Spell Card works. When I activate this Spell Card, all of the ATKs and DEFs of every single Level 1 Normal Monster I control is increased by 2000 until the End Phase. And during the end of the turn, all of the Monsters that were powered up by this effect are destroyed."

"That doesn't change anything, I said! The highest ATK on your Field now is 2400 ATK in your Oppressed People, and that's still not enough to get over my Malevolent Sin! All you've done is set up your Normal Monsters to die!"

Malcolm gave a sigh and shook his head. "Strange… for how much I thought you were smarter than Jason, it turns out that you're just as dumb as he was."

"Say what now?!" Lou yelled.

"You don't see a good strategy when you see one, even when that strategy is staring you down at point blank range… or perhaps you've somehow forgotten, despite playing so many cards already, I still have one card left in my Hand. And it's the card that's going to change everything."

"You're bluffing… you're bluffing! What could you possibly have in there?! Another Dystopia?!"

"Oh, I'm afraid not… I don't need my Dystopia to defeat you. And I'm going to prove it to you with this! The ultimate Spell Card!" He played his Spell card, the hologram of it appearing on the battlefield.

Lou gave a horrified groan, his eyes widened and his teeth gritted as the hologram revealed the Spell Card that Malcolm had just activated. "N-no! It can't be!"

"Oh, I'm afraid it is! And judging by your reaction, I think you're finally starting to see what I mean!" Malcolm yelled as he pointed at Lou. "Go on, my Normal Monsters! Combine all of your power together, and show him the power of our Spell Card! Introduce him to The Law of the Normal!"

Obeying their master's orders, all of the Monsters on his side of the field gathered around, joining their hands to each other and closing their eyes, when applicable. As they did, a powerful, white aura began to protrude from every single one of them. Surrounding the entire battlefield in a nearly blinding white light. Past all of the light, it could be seen that Lou's entire Hand was being sent to the Graveyard, his Number 70: Malevolent Sin letting out a horrifying, sickening screech as the light completely consumed it, as well as the two Continuous Spells Lou still had on the Field.

"Rrrgh! You bastard! Look at what you've done!" Lou yelled. "All of the cards in both of our Hands and on our Fields are being destroyed at once!"

"Only the cards that don't include Level 2 or lower Normal Monsters." Malcolm corrected. "And just as well, I don't have any cards in my Hand to speak of, so I don't lose anything."

The light completely dissipated, and the only thing that was left on the Field were Malcolm's 5 Monsters, who all still had the red triangles underneath their feet. "And just in case you somehow had forgotten in all of the excitement, my Monsters are still charged up thanks to the effect of Triangle Power. Which means that with over 2000 ATK a piece, your 9000 Life Points won't be enough to save you from this onslaught."

"You! You mean to tell me that you had both of those cards hidden away in your deck, just in case you weren't able to use your Dystopia?!" Lou questioned.

To this, Malcolm just gave a little bit of a scoff. "It's called, "having a back up plan", something that someone as idiotic as Jason would be able to figure out." Lou gave a growl at Malcolm's casual insult, looking at his Graveyard and realizing that there was nothing left he could do to protect himself.

"Sure, all of these Monsters are incredibly weak, and their main goal is to be bringing out my strongest Monster, but I was more than prepared for any moments where I wouldn't be able to rely on my Dystopia. Because if there's one thing I've learned from having a gang of misfits following me around for months on end, it's that under someone with enough strength, smarts and leadership, even the weakest of chumps can prove to have their uses. And underneath my leadership, these weaklings have more than enough power to bring you down!"

"H-hang on! Just wait a minute!"

"You're not bribing your way out of this one, Lou!" Malcolm yelled as he pointed at him again. "All of my Monsters, attack! Show him what you're capable of doing under me!"

On command, all of the Monsters charged forward at once. Their usually weak power was intensified by the Triangle Power that was played earlier, allowing all of them to hit Lou hard. Lou gave a loud growl of pain as he was thrown off of his feet, sprawling to the ground, almost knocking down some of the crowd that surrounded him in the process. In a matter of minutes, his Life Points went down from 9000 to 0.

Malcolm stood there silently for a few seconds before giving a little sigh of relief. While his victory came as no surprise to him, he couldn't deny that it had been such a long while since he had such a rush like that. "...So, you fought better with your new deck than last time, I'll give you that." Malcolm said. "...But I'm afraid you still have a long ways to go before you could think of defeating me… now, I believe you have something of mine in your deck."

"...You… you tricked me…" Lou said as he slowly turned to look at Malcolm. "...You knew that I wouldn't let that Spell Card of mine be destroyed unless I knew it was all part of your plan… you… would dare to think ahead of me…?"

"And you underestimated my strength and ability come back from your tricks." Malcolm said as he held out his hand. "And in the end, you proved that even with your special deck, even when you take away my strongest card, you're still too weak to defeat me… now… give me back my Dystopia the Despondent… you lost."

"Me…? Weak…?" Lou slowly rose back to his feet, his hand starting to shake as he slowly began to reach for his deck, taking a certain card out of it. The pupils were shrunk to the point of resembling tiny black periods on a page, and his grin had turned into one of killing intent. "...Weak... ? ME…?!" He slowly began to reach the card towards his duel disk, looking as if he was ready to play whatever it was he just grabbed.

As his hand continued to reach down, his card just mere inches away from his duel disk, a flash of lightning cracked through the sky, illuminating the alleyways just briefly enough that everyone there could notice the shadow of a man cast over them from above.

As everybody looked up towards the gray, cloudy sky, they saw a figure standing on the rooftops, staring down at them from where he stood, his entire body cloaked and covered up, the only feature of the man being truly visible to them being his eyes, which, despite being very far away, glowed with enough fiery red that they would be noticed, despite the distance.

While Malcolm stood silently where he was, staring at the figure above and wondering who he was, he began to hear the uneasy mutterings of the crowd around them, as they slowly began to shuffle away and continue with whatever it was they were doing before they came to observe the duel. It seemed that while he was completely clueless as to who he was looking at, those in the alleyway seemed to have recognized him, even from that distance.

The same seemed to have been the case with Lou, as he stood there, silently looking up at the man. He said something very quietly, so quietly that Malcolm really couldn't make out what exactly he just said. However, what little he did hear of it, made it sound as if he had just said a name.

After seconds of awkward silence as the two stood there, staring at the figure that stared intently back at them, Malcolm beginning to wonder if he was going to attempt to jump down at any point, Lou turned back around and grinned again at Malcolm, this time being much more polite, at least on the surface. All of a sudden, his mannerisms completely changed at the sight of their unexpected audience. Now, when he had just previously looked like he was ready to skin his opponent alive a few seconds earlier, the old man now seemed to be rather interested in being on his best behavior, and forgetting what he was about to do just mere seconds ago.

"Well… I suppose it can't be helped." Lou said with a little shrug as his hand, which was still shaking a bit, put the card that he had in his hand back into his deck, before searching out Malcolm's card and handing it back to him. Malcolm turned the card around as soon as he got it, making absolutely sure that the card he had just got back was indeed his Dystopia the Despondent.

"You may have defeated me this time… but I recommend some more caution while lurking around these alleys, boy." Lou said, his voice still drenched in fake politeness and concern, despite his words coming off as somewhat threatening. "The next time, you might just not be so lucky." Malcolm remained silent a little bit as he just gave a bit of a dismissive nod.

Lou gave one more fake chuckle before looking back to the rooftops, seeing that the figure was still standing there, staring down at them, and now specifically at him, waiting to see what his move would be. Realizing that he wasn't going to be going away any time soon as long as he stood there, Lou gave an irritated growl and turned around, storming away deeper into the alleyways, not even bothering to put his duel disk or deck back into their hiding space in the wall.

Malcolm was silent as he looked back at the man, who turned his attention back to him once he was sure that Lou was done for the day. He had no idea who he was, but it seemed like from the mere sight of him alone, people in the alleys were scared straight. He also found it odd how he chose to stand above the alleyways, rather than directly in them.

Whatever the case, Malcolm just gave a scoff and turned around, making his way back towards the outside of the alleyways, hoping that his bike was still where he had left it.

He walked for about a minute or so in complete silence before coming to a stop, wondering if the man was still around. He slowly turned his head to the direction of where the man was last standing, only to see that the man was still quite nearby, still watching over him, his glowing red eyes never leaving Malcolm for a second.

Malcolm stared back curiously, still looking back at him as he began to walk forward again, wanting to see what the man would do when his eyes were on him. Sure enough, after a few steps, the man began to walk again as well, tailing Malcolm from a few steps away.

Malcolm gave a little scoff. Did the guy not see that he was looking straight at him now? "You know, one of the big keys to stalking someone is making sure they aren't aware of you doing so." he called out to the man as he continued to walk. The man didn't answer back. He just kept quietly watching and walking with Malcolm.

Once Malcolm got to the point where the exit of the alleyways was just in sight, he stopped again and turned to look, seeing that the man had come to a stop as well. When he was finally close enough to the exit, the mysterious man finally turned around and walked away, having not said a single word throughout the entire journey. Malcolm just stood there in silence, watching as the man left. Was he following him to make sure he left the alleyways without causing any trouble? Or perhaps he was following him to protect him, in case somebody were to try anything, seeing as how everyone else in the alleyways seemed to be so afraid of him. He wasn't really sure, but he didn't really care to find out.

He was pleased to find that his vehicle was right where he had left it. He gave a little nod and got on it, putting his deck and his duel disk back into his backpack and riding off, his thoughts still heavy on what had just transpired. What card was it that Lou was about to use after Malcolm demanded he get his Dystopia back? And better yet, why did he stop when he saw that man standing above them? What was he doing there in the first place, and who was he?

Whatever the case was, Malcolm had a new task on his hand, and that was paying Jason back for making a fool out of him. But now, after that duel against Lou, he had more confidence that he would be able to do it. He was able to come back and win from a duel without his most important card, by the way. If he could do that, then there was no way that Jason would be able to defeat him a second time.

As he thought about that, however, he also remembered the phone call that he had received just before he met Lou… that chilling voice that he thought he would never hear again… surely what he just said was just an empty threat… he wouldn't really come back again if Malcolm didn't defeat Jason, would he…?

"...So what, even if he would." Malcolm said to himself with a scoff and a shake of his head. "He can kiss my ass even if he would… my cards aren't going anywhere… and I'll beat Jason again… not for him… for me." He gave a nod and a little smirk to himself as he just relaxed and enjoyed riding on the street. Jason or no Jason, Mal the Monster was back.


	4. Turbulence

It had been about a week now, since Jason had defeated the previously undefeated Malcolm Alexson at his own game, and ever since then, Jason had been practically the talk of the university. Ever since then, every single duelist that had ever lost to Malcolm was always itching for the opportunity to talk to him, to get advice on their Decks, and sometimes just thank him for knocking Malcolm off of his high horse for once in his life.

They did almost anything they could with Jason when they had the time to do so. Having him recount the duel against Mal turn by turn, looking through their decks together, seeing the cards for their own eyes that Jason used to defeat Mal, and even sometimes dueling against Jason, sometimes with their own decks, and other times, with other decks to see how they did. In the latter case, Jason often did astoundingly bad when using other decks. He seemed to have a lot of trouble figuring out what the cards were wanting to do, even when someone gave him some tips to help him out.

When it came to using his own deck, however, Jason proved time and time again how he was able to defeat Malcolm. Everybody who played against it was astounded in the power of Jason's Ritual Monsters, to the point where they started to say that once Jason had a Chaotic Ritual and one of his Ritual Monsters in his Hand, the game was over.

Jason was really happy at first to see everybody was able to take so much inspiration from him, but very soon, it also started to overwhelm Jason a little bit. The constant attention he was getting was actually starting to bother him a little bit. He started to feel like he couldn't so much as leave his house to go to classes without getting absolutely swamped by people wanting to talk to him. He soon found himself really having to rush in between classes to try to get from one class to another on time due to constantly being stopped along the way, and he hated having to rush like that.

Luckily for him, Frederick was able to help him out very quickly in making sure everyone knew what times were good to talk to Jason, and what times weren't. Because of that, a lot of the burden that Jason found with the extra attention was relieved from his shoulders, and he was able to get things back on track quickly.

When he wasn't dueling others or getting through with his classes, Jason was also now spending quite a bit of time dueling with Frederick, trying to help him get his confidence up and relax during duels. They would have a number of duels throughout that week, sometimes even more than one duel a day, to try to get Frederick more comfortable with his deck and with dueling in general. Jason went easy on him at first, but as the days went on, he continued fighting harder and harder, slowly giving Frederick more of a taste of what would be expected of him during a duel.

The progress was coming slowly, as Jason had figured, but more and more, as he continued to duel against Frederick, he was watching Frederick get more comfortable with dueling. It was even getting to the point that when Jason was starting to push harder as the duels went on, he began to notice that Frederick was able to start pushing right back. He still wasn't quite there yet, but Jason was becoming really proud of the progress.

Just when he was getting real happy with where they were going, however, Frederick had brought up a good point that Jason hadn't thought of before. Jason was only having Frederick face him over and over again, and trying to boost his confidence that way. While that seemed to be doing well at the moment, it could easily be argued that it was only working as well as it was because Frederick was becoming more aware of Jason's playstyle, and therefore had more of an idea of what to do and when to do it. There wasn't a guarantee that Frederick would be able to feel the same way with dueling against people he's never played with before.

The thought frustrated Jason to no ends, but he knew that Frederick wasn't wrong. Just the two of them facing each other over and over again didn't exactly equate to Frederick being completely confident in dueling others, when their strategies and decks would no doubt be very different from his. For a brief moment, Jason thought that they had hit a brick wall.

However, the next day, Jason had done just enough snooping around on the campus to discover the answer to their problems: a Duel Monsters Club that met every Friday night, for people who played the card game or wanted to know more about it, whether for fun or for more serious play. There were sure to be many different people there of varying experiences, plenty of which would be happy to help Frederick. Not only that, but it would allow the two of them to meet more friends. Jason couldn't believe he didn't hear about this club sooner!

Both Frederick and Jason signed up to be a part of the club. The next meeting was happening that very night, starting at 6 PM, and ending at a time that neither of the two were sure of. They stopped by Jason's house after their classes were finished, making sure they had a quick refresher of their decks, and what to do in certain situations. After all of that was done, they packed their decks, their duel disks and their laptops, just in case, and were ready to head to their first meeting.

"Alright, Freddy. Just remember what all we've gone over this past week." Jason said as he and Frederick put their backpacks into the back of Jason's car, which was a small white car that wasn't too fancy, but got Jason where he needed to go just fine. "Be ready to make your big plays, but always be ready for mistakes or roadblocks when they happen."

"Yeah, yeah, Jason. I hear you… but do we have to be leaving so early? It's only 4:30. The meeting isn't going to take place for an hour and a half, and it's not going to take us that long to get there."

"Well… yeah. I know that." Jason answered with a shrug. "But at the same time, arriving early will give us some more time to do a couple of things before the meeting starts. You know. Making sure we know where exactly it's taking place, maybe having a test duel or two-"

"And let me guess. 'Getting something to eat' is going to be among those couple of things, right?" Frederick interrupted with a chuckle and a shake of his head.

"Well… maybe." Jason answered with a chuckle. "You said it, not me."

"As if you wouldn't have if I didn't." Frederick responded with a snicker. "You're incorrigible to the very end."

"Whatever that means." Jason responded as he and Frederick opened the front doors to the car and were about to enter.

"Uhhh… excuse me?" came a young woman's voice as she walked towards the two. She was wearing a purple jacket and a pair of black wind pants. Her eyes were a ruby red, and her long hair was mostly blonde with a few pink streaks. "I'm sorry to interrupt you two, but… did I hear that you two were going to some kind of... Duel Monsters Club?"

"Uhhhh… we are, yes." Jason answered. "Why? Are you heading there as well? If you need a ride, I may be able to get you in in between our bags."

"N-no… I'm no member of any club… at least not yet." the young girl answered. "See… I… uhhhh… just recently became a duelist myself. And… well… I'm wanting to build a specific Deck to play with… but I just don't feel like I have everything I need for it yet… you both are heading to that Duel Monsters Club, so you both must be duelists that have some idea of what you're doing. Think you could help me out?"

"...You… came all the way here just to get some help with building your deck?" Frederick asked. "...Seems like quite a bit of effort for just getting some advice there, don't you think? Wouldn't it be easier to… I don't know, post a message in an online forum, or something?"

The girl's demeanor seemed to have changed for a second or two in response to what Frederick just said. For a short moment, the shy look in her eyes was turned to surprise and annoyance, as if what Frederick had just said really rubbed her the wrong way. She even seemed to snarl just a little bit, making Frederick really nervous.

After just a few quick seconds, however, the girl was able to return to her initial shy demeanor, and gave a clear of her throat before speaking again, as if nothing had happened. "W-well… yes, I suppose you may be right, but…" she started. "Uhhhh… well… I didn't really know if I could trust some stranger online to help me out, quite honestly… I mean, not that I really know you two either… but I feel I can trust you more, when I can physically talk to you… w-with forums, you really don't know who you're talking to, or whether they know what they're talking about or not, you know…?"

Frederick was silent as he frowned and looked at the girl. Something wasn't right. She was clearly trying to hide something, or at least acting her shyness up for one reason or another… he would usually tell Jason that he didn't trust her, and that they should just get in the car and head out if they wanted to get there early, but then remembered the last time he tried to do that was the day that Jason dueled Mal. Given that past experience, he figured that Jason wouldn't have listened to him even if he did say something.

"Well… it does seem a bit strange yet… but I suppose you do have a point." Jason responded with a shrug before giving a little friendly smile, closing his door. "So… what kind of deck are you thinking of making, may I ask? Is it something archetype specific, like Worms or Allies of Justice, or is it more of a casual, mix of different cards? Because I think I might be a better help with the latter."

"Well… kind of a combination of both, really…?" the girl asked as she looked up a bit with a raise of her eyebrow and scratched her head, trying to think of how to describe what she was making. "...See… I was wondering if you had any suggestions for a Winged-Beast Deck… Winged-Beasts are my favorite type of Monsters in the game, so I was hoping to make a Deck based on them."

"Winged-Beasts, huh?" Jason questioned with a little hum. "...I honestly prefer Spellcasters and Dragons myself… but for Winged-Beasts… I know that there are Harpies… Gladiator Beasts also have a few Winged-Beasts in their arsenal, I think…"

The girl was silent as she stared at Jason for a few seconds, quite intently. Frederick was quick to notice that, while Jason continued to remain oblivious to it. "...Well… here's the thing… there's a certain card that I think can really help my Deck out if I had it… a Monster that works real well with Winged-Beasts, but I don't know where it is or how I can get it… think you could help me out?"

"Well… I don't know. That depends." Jason answered with a shrug. "What's the name of the card? Maybe I've heard of it before."

"Well… let's see… what was that card's name again…?" the girl pondered as she rubbed her chin in thought. "...I think it went along the lines of… Lovely… Winged Princess…? Something like that?" She looked back at Jason silently and intently, waiting to see if that would get a reaction out of him.

"...Lovely… Winged Princess…" Jason repeated as he looked down in thought. "Hmmmmm… well… no, I can't say I know what you're talking about. Sorry."

"...I see." the girl answered after a few seconds with a little nod. As soon as Jason had answered her, she turned around and began to walk away, which surprised Jason. He would have thought that she would at least stay and talk a bit more for some other card suggestions, rather than walking away as soon as he said he didn't know what she was looking for.

Before she got too far, however, Frederick recalled something that Jason let him see immediately after his duel with Malcolm. "Hey… I think I know what she's talking about." he said as he looked at Jason. "What about that Winged Love Princess card you have?"

"Winged Love Princess… ooh! I remember now! That card that says something about "Winged" Monsters for Summoning, I think?"

Upon hearing this, the girl immediately stopped in her tracks and turned back to Jason. "...So you do know what I'm talking about then?" she asked.

"Yeah. I do, now that Fred mentioned it." Jason answered as he opened the back door to his car, taking his bag out of it and looking in there. "As a matter of fact, I think I still have it in here… in one of my deck boxes… a-ha! Here it is!" He took out the Winged Love Princess card and held it towards the girl. "Is this the card you were looking for?"

"Y-yes! That's… exactly what I was looking for…" the girl said, her tone of voice changing a little bit, getting a little bit more serious. "...And… just where do you think I may find a card like that…?"

"Well… I don't really know, to be perfectly honest." Jason answered with a little grin and a chuckle. "It's a really, really rare card from what I know. In fact, I think I may have the only one… sorry I can't help you out."

"Oh, no. No. As a matter of fact, you were a really big help, and I think I know where I can get mine now." the girl said as she closed her eyes and smiled a little bit. "...I guess I was right in following the leads to you after all…"

"Huh? Following leads?" Jason questioned as he and Frederick looked at each other before looking back at the girl again. "...You… were trying to find me?"

"Yes… that's right." she answered before opening her eyes back. All of a sudden, her shy act was now completely gone, and her smile had now changed into a frown as her eyes looked seriously at Jason. If looks could kill, the young man would have fallen to the ground dead. "...You filthy robber."

"H-huh?!" Jason and Frederick were both taken aback by both the sudden change in her demeanor and what she had just said. "Hey, hold on a minute! What are you talking about?!"

"You must have thought you were so clever, didn't you? Taking what belongs to me and hiding in plain sight here and thinking you were safe." she continued on, completely ignoring Jason's question. "But what you didn't realize is that the moment you made the mistake of stealing from me, I've been on your trail, looking for clues as to where I could find you. And now, here you are, confirming your own guilt."

"Woah, woah, woah. Hey. Hold on a minute." Jason said as he and Frederick backed up. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I think you've got the wrong guy. I haven't taken anything that isn't-"

"Don't you dare try to lie your way out of this one." the girl rudely interrupted. "I'm not here for any excuses or dodging responsibility. I'm here to take back what belongs to me." She pointed at Jason, looking at him dead in the eyes. "So give back what you stole from me, or take out your deck and pay for your sins, card thief."

"'Card thief'?" Jason questioned as he stood there silently. He could feel his hand ball into a fist and his body start to heat up a little bit in anger. If there was one thing he hated, it was somebody accusing him of something that he didn't do. "...Alright then… you want a duel that badly? I'll give you one." He put the Winged Love Princess back into his bag while taking out his own deck and duel disk.

The girl gave a little scoff upon seeing this and unzipped her jacket, revealing the dark pink shirt she wore under it, while also taking her own deck and duel disk out of her jacket pockets and putting it on her wrist, the duel disk activating as soon as the deck was in it.

"Jason, I don't know about this. This girl is giving me all kinds of bad vibes right now. I think we're better off just getting out of here before things get too ugly." Frederick suggested.

"Stand back, Fred." Jason said. "I don't let anyone accuse me of things I'm innocent of. Besides, you know that I never turn down a duel. This girl wants to have a go with me, she's getting it." Frederick gave a little groan. He wanted to keep out of the way, just in case things got real bad, but he also wanted to watch the duel. He stood behind Jason's car, slightly hiding behind it, while leaning out to get a good look.

"LET'S DUEL!"

"I'll start this off then." the girl said as she looked at her hand before putting a Monster face-down. "And I'll start off nice and easy with one Monster face-down. Consider it the calm before the storm you've brought your way. Your turn, card thief."

"My name is Jason." Jason corrected with a growl. "And it will be my pleasure. I draw!" he drew a card from his Deck and looked at what he had in his Hand. Nothing that could let him pull out all of the big plays just yet, but there was at least something he could do this turn.

"First things first, I'll be Summoning my Messenger of Pure Chaos to the Field!" Jason said as he played his card, his Messenger of Pure Chaos descending to from the sky to the battlefield. "Quite a lovely looking lady, isn't she? And she's about to get even lovelier. For me, that is. See, when my Messenger of Pure Chaos is Normal Summoned while I control no other Pure Chaos Monsters, she allows me to fetch either a Pure Chaos Ritual Monster or a Chaotic Ritual from my Deck to my Hand. And I think I'll go ahead and fetch my Chaotic Ritual."

"Go ahead and take whatever you feel you need from your Deck." the girl said simply as Jason took his card and revealed it to the girl, so she knew that it was indeed the card he said he was taking. "They're not going to help. But to the very least, you're taking only what belongs to you."

"Heh. Seems like you're not going to be shutting up about that any time soon, huh? Well let's just see if I can get you to stop talking with this." Jason responded as he took a Spell card and activated. "Because I'm activating the Equip Spell, Rift Blade!"

Above their heads, the sky began to warp and distort, only returning to normal as a sword descended from it and stuck in the ground right in front of the Messenger of Pure Chaos. The Messenger took ahold of the sword and pulled it from the ground, holding it in both of her gloved hands. "It seems your Equip Spell is a little faulty." the girl commented as she looked at the Messenger's current stats. "Your Equip Spell hasn't changed her ATK or DEF by a single point."

"Not yet, it hasn't. But we'll get to that very soon." Jason responded. "You see, my Rift Blade's an Equip Spell that can only be equipped to a Pure Chaos Spellcaster-Type Monster. Its effect kicks in whenever the equipped Monster destroys a Monster by battle. Rather than that Monster being sent to the Graveyard, Rift Blade gives me one of two options to do with the destroyed Monster. I can either Special Summon that Monster to my side of the Field, with its effects negated and it being unable to attack, or I can banish the destroyed Monster and increase the equipped Monster's ATK by its level x100."

"So then you need to destroy a Monster for that Equip Spell to even do anything." Frederick said. "I guess I know what your next move is going to be then, Jason."

"You would assume correctly." Jason answered as he pointed at the girl's face-down Monster. "Now go, Messenger of Pure Chaos! Destroy her face-down Monster!" The Messenger of Pure Chaos began to fly towards the face-down card, The Rift Blade was tightly clutched in her hands as she flew in towards the face-down Monster, ready to take the swing.

When she finally got there, the face-down Monster flipped over, and from it rose a harpy that was entirely covered in rainbow feathers, save for her face. Her hair was long and wild, and completely pink while the rest of her feathers were a dazzling array of colors. She crossed her wings together when the Rift Blade started coming down, and completely blocked off the attack.

"Hmhmhm… I'm afraid your ATK isn't going to be rising by a single point then… but I can assure you, that your Life Points will be decreasing." the girl answered. The information of the Monster that was just flipped face-up appeared, revealing it to be a Level 4 WIND Winged-Beast-Type Monster with 0 ATK and 2000 DEF.

"It completely blocked off the attack…" Jason said with a little growl as he saw the Monster's DEF was higher than Messenger's ATK.

"That's right, card thief. My Winged Rainbow Girl has no offensive capabilities, as you can see. However, what she lacks there is perfectly made up for in her defensive ability. Such as keeping both your Messenger of Pure Chaos and her sword at bay." The Winged Rainbow Girl gave a little push of her wings, forcing Messenger back to Jason's side of the Field, while also dealing Jason 400 points of damage to his Life Points. Jason gave a little bit of a growl. That wasn't how he was hoping to start the game.

"Now then… since there's nothing more you can do, I'll go ahead and make my move." The girl drew her card and gave a little smile as she saw it. "And just take a look at what I drew. I summon my Winged Thunder Mistress to the Field!"

Another harpy-like creature appeared on her Field, this one only having feathers at her wings, which replaced her arms and were a sandy tan in color. Her hair was long and blonde, and she wore a short black dress, as well as gray thigh high boots. Her entire being cackled with a cerulean electricity, especially when she flapped her wings. Her information revealed her to be a Level 4 WIND Thunder-Type Monster with 2000 ATK and 0 DEF, the opposite of the Monster that was on the same side as her.

"A Thunder-Type?" Frederick questioned in confusion.

"She may not be a Winged-Beast, but she'll fit right in with my other Winged ladies perfectly." the girl said. "And it gets even better. Once per turn, I can target any card on the Field and destroy it with her special ability, at the cost of not being able to declare an attack with her when that effect is activated. But with how your Monster is weaker than her, I won't be needing that ability this turn. Not when I can simply destroy her and damage you at the same time! Winged Thunder Mistress, attack the Messenger of Pure Chaos now! Storm Gale attack!"

The Thunder Mistress leapt high into the air and began to flap her wings, keeping herself up in the air as she stared her target down with those electrified blue eyes. She began to flap her wings harder as she stayed in place, protruding from them a powerful wind infused with electricity. The Messenger of Pure Chaos growled as she took the attack, holding up her sword in an attempt to block it off, but it was too late as she, and the sword that she carried, was destroyed, and Jason lost 400 more Life Points.

"And just like that, you're left with nothing once again." the girl mocked with a smirk. "Quite fitting that someone like you should have nothing in the face of those you wronged, don't you agree?"

"Don't get too cocky just because you took an early lead." Jason answered. "This duel's only just begun, and 7200 Life Points is still more than enough to take you down. My move!"

He drew his card and gave a little smirk. It wasn't exactly the most orthodox way of getting things done for him, but he had something he could do this turn. "First, I'm activating the Spell Card, Soul Release! Now, with this card, I'm allowed to banish up to 5 cards from either one of our Graveyards, and take them out of the game!"

"Banishing cards from our Graveyards? But I don't have a single card in my Graveyard yet."

"You don't, but thanks to your earlier attack, I do. But I'm only needing one to be gotten rid of. So I'll use this Spell card to remove my own Messenger of Pure Chaos from play."

The girl gave a confused frown as she watched Jason take his Messenger of Pure Chaos out of his Graveyard and put it in his deck box. "And you're removing your own Monster from play… because why?" she questioned.

"Because now that I did that, I'm allowed to bring out this next Monster." Jason said with a smile as he took a card from his hand and played it on his duel disk. "And if you thought Messenger of Pure Chaos was lovely, wait until you get a load of this Monster. Say hello to my Sorceress of Pure Chaos, in Defense Mode!"

A bright light shined on Jason's battlefield as a new Monster appeared on it. She appeared with flowing, very long white hair and dazzling purple eyes. She wore a gold crown, as well as golden armor on her arms and at her hips, the armor there also acting as her undergarment. Underneath the armor she wore a royal magenta robe, which left the inner part of her chest and very little of her cleavage revealed, while also leaving her legs and the golden boots she wore exposed. She bore a golden scepter in her hand that glowed with a white light at the very top. Her information showed her to be a Level 8 LIGHT Spellcaster-Type with 600 ATK and 3500 DEF.

"Of course! I remember now!" Frederick exclaimed. "If a Pure Chaos Monster in Jason's Graveyard is removed from the game by his own card effect, he's allowed to Special Summon his Sorceress straight from his Hand!"

"That's what you tossed away your own Monster for? A giant wall with a mere 600 ATK? Am I supposed to be afraid of that?" the girl sneered.

"Not exactly." Jason started. "You see, my Sorceress of Pure Chaos actually starts off with no ATK at all. However, thanks to her special ability, she gains 300 ATK for every card you have on your side of the Field. And since you have only your two Monsters, my Sorceress of Pure Chaos has 600 ATK."

Jason gave a little grin as he took his deck out. "But more importantly, since I Special Summoned a LIGHT Pure Chaos Monster, I've activated the ability of a card in my Deck. So now, give a warm welcome to one of my favorite Monsters! The Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos!"

A portal of light appeared just beside the Sorceress of Pure Chaos, and out from it, the Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos leapt out with a little roar. "And now, his special ability activates. Since he's Special Summoned, I can add any Spell or Trap card to my Hand, as long as that card directly mentions Pure Chaos in its description. So I'll go ahead and add my Fallen Rider's Stand Spell Card to my Hand."

"Not bad. A more powerful Monster on top of a search. But if you think any of those cards you just played and added are going to save you, you've got another thing coming." the girl responded.

"Oh, I'm not finished yet." Jason retorted. "Since I still have my Normal Summon for this turn, I'll go ahead and summon my Pure Chaos Dragon Whelp to the Field!" He summoned his Monster, which appeared to be a much smaller and younger version of his Pure Chaos Dragon, except its horns seemed to be made of purple crystal, and its eyes were a very deep purple rather than red. Its information showed it to be a Level 2 DARK Dragon-Type with 200 ATK and 100 DEF.

"Since my Dragon Whelp is now Summoned, his two abilities activate." Jason started. "First off, when he's Normal Summoned to my side of the Field, I get to add 1 Spellcaster-Type Monster from my Deck to my Hand. And I'll choose Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos. Not only that, but while my Dragon Whelp is on the Field at the same time of me controlling a Spellcaster-Type Monster, such as my Sorceress of Pure Chaos, its Level becomes 8."

"Whatever! Are you just going to keep adding cards to your Hand and Field, or are you actually going to do something with them?!" the girl snapped, starting to get impatient.

"Very well, if you insist." Jason answered. "Oh, and before I forget, I should probably mention, now that I control a DARK Pure Chaos Monster, being my Pure Chaos Dragon Whelp, my Divine Chimera is allowed to make 2 attacks per Battle Phase. First things first, I'll use him to destroy your Thunder Mistress!" The Chimera leapt up into the air and slashed at the Winged Thunder Mistress, who gave a shrill scream as she was attacked. Rather than breaking apart like most destroyed Monsters, however, she transformed into a blue light and shot straight up into the sky.

The girl gave a growl as she lost her Monster and 300 Life Points, but then she gave a smirk. "And I'm afraid you're going to regret that move. Because now you just set up your entire Field for nothing." she said. "You see, when my Winged Thunder Mistress is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, whether it be by battle or by card effect, she takes every other face-up Monster on the Field down with her."

"What did you just say?" Jason asked in shock.

"Consider it a Lightning Vortex on both of us that requires her to be destroyed rather than discarding something." The girl pointed up to the sky, and several powerful bolts of electricity shot down from it, Winged Rainbow Girl giving pained screams, and Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos and Pure Chaos Dragon Whelp giving off roars as the lightning hit the Field and covered it all in dust.

"Hmph… so much for all of that set up, huh card thief? You thought you would be able to use the second attacking capability of your Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos to take out both my Monsters, so you could take the upper hand… but I'm afraid I'll always be one step ahead of you now. And once again, you leave yourself with nothing."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that! Not as long as my Sorceress of Pure Chaos remains!" Jason shouted back. As soon as the dust from the lightning show cleared, it revealed the entire field to be empty, save for the Sorceress of Pure Chaos, who was holding her scepter up in the air, surrounding herself by a forcefield of light.

"What?! Your Sorceress wasn't destroyed?!" the girl shouted in shock.

"That's right. You see, since my Sorceress of Pure Chaos was Special Summoned by her own ability, the Monster that was removed from the game for her summoning increases her power tenfold, allowing her to shield herself from the effects of any of your cards." Jason replied before giving a grin. "Not only that, but by destroying my Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos, you've activated his special ability as well."

"Another one?! How many abilities does that Monster of yours have?!"

"Don't worry, this is the last one. But it's a really good one. Whenever my Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos leaves the Field, he allows me to either shuffle all Pure Chaos Monsters in my Graveyard back into my Deck, or shuffle all Spell and Trap cards that specifically list Pure Chaos in my Graveyard back into my Deck, and draw one card afterwards. Since it's the option between one or two cards, I'll shuffle my two Pure Chaos Monsters, one of them being the Divine Chimera himself, back into my Deck."

"Alright! Now, not only does Jason still have a Monster on his Field to protect him during her turn, now his Divine Chimera is back in his Deck, which means that if he Special Summons another LIGHT Pure Chaos Monster, he can bring it back to the Field!" Frederick exclaimed.

"Which means, not only do I still have something, despite your best efforts, but now all of the advantage is coming to me." Jason explained as he drew the card from his Divine Chimera's ability after shuffling. "Let's see if you can answer back to that… I end my turn."

"Hmph… only a minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things. I'll be sure of that." the girl responded as she drew her next card. "But I must admit, you don't seem to be as pathetic as most of the other scum like you I've had to face… not yet, anyway. But we'll see how long that lasts. First, I'll activate the continuous Spell Card, Harpie's Golden Eggs. You'll see what that card does in a matter of time. Then I'll place one Monster and one card face-down. That'll end my turn."

"Alright then, it's my turn. I draw!" Jason said as he drew his card and looked at it before giving a little smirk. "And it looks like this is gonna be quite the turn indeed. Because now, I'm activating my Ritual Card! Chaotic Ritual!"

He played the card in his Spell/Trap Zone, and the area in his Monster Zone began to warp and distort. "By activating this Ritual Card, I'm allowed to Ritual Summon 1 Pure Chaos Ritual Monster from my Hand, by sending at least 2 Monsters from my Hand, my Field, or my Deck to the Graveyard, with at least one sent Monster being a LIGHT Monster, and at least one being a DARK Monster."

"Allowing you to take Monsters from your own Deck for the Ritual Summon?" the girl questioned with a little hum. "Well… I suppose you had to have some way of defeating me… so go on ahead. Play your precious card, not that it will save you at all."

"Don't be so sure about that. This certain Monster of mine was the reason I was able to come back from a 7000 Life Point disadvantage, after all. And you're about to find out why! Now watch, as I send from my Deck to the Graveyard, the LIGHT Level 8 Monster, Pure Chaos Spirit Drake, and the DARK Level 2 Monster, Pure Chaos Dragon Whelp." He took the two cards from his Deck and put them into his Graveyard, a new being starting to form in the distortion on his field.

"I may be 2 Levels over the minimum amount to Ritual Summon this Monster, but that's no skin off my nose, because she's gonna be the one to put you to your place!" Jason said as he pointed to the distortion. "So please, let's all three of us give a warm, Duel Monsters welcome to the Level 8 Ritual Monster, Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos!"

The distortion on Jason's field vanished, and in its place was the Level 8 Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos, the same one who had destroyed Mal's Dystopia the Despondent a week prior. "Awesome! Now Jason has one of his strongest Monsters in play! And for every Dragon on his Field and in his Graveyard, she's going to get even stronger!"

The Dragon Queen held her spear at the ready as she slowly floated towards the ground. Once her feet touched the seemingly solid ground, however, her eyes widened in shock and she gave a shocked gasp as she felt the ground suddenly begin to swallow her legs, the Ritual Monster quickly sinking into the earth. "Gah! What in the-" Jason started as he watched the Monster he just summon quickly sink into the ground. The girl just crossed her arms and smirked.

Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos only stopped sinking once she was hip deep into the ground, every part of her below there being completely engulfed in the ground. To try to find out what was going on, she took ahold of her spear and poked it into the ground below her, only to find that, rather than solid dirt, the ground below her was suddenly very soft, to the point where her spear also started to get taken up in it.

With a little frustrated growl upon seeing that her spear was also caught, she released her weapon, which slowly began to sink into the earth, which the Spellcaster didn't seem to realize as she began to press her hands down against the soft ground to try to pull herself out of the ground. No matter how much she pulled, however, she couldn't get free.

"His Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos is stuck?!" Frederick asked in shock.

"What the Hell happened?!" Jason exclaimed as he watched his Monster struggle on. "What is that stuff?! Some kind of quicksand?!"

"Oh, I'm afraid this is no ordinary quicksand, card thief." the girl replied with a smirk as she held her hand to the face-down card she had set the turn earlier, revealing it to be a Continuous Trap Card. "This is the work of my Trap Bog!"

"Trap Bog? I've never heard of a card like that." Jason commented.

"Of course you haven't. So allow me to explain how it works. Once per turn, when either you or myself Normal Summon or Special Summon a Monster at any time, my Trap Bog allows me to target that Monster. And if I do, that Monster gets sucked into the unbreakable clutches of my Trap Card. While it remains on the Field, it's not allowed to declare any attacks."

"You're kidding me! So now I have this powerful Monster on my side of the Field, and I'm not going to be able to do any attacking with her?!"

"And that's not all, card thief." the girl continued with a smirk while waving her finger a bit. "I overheard what your friend was saying about your Monster's ability to get stronger for every Dragon on your side of the field and your Graveyard. So I thought that it's only fair to tell you that that's not going to be happening. Because not only does my Trap Bog prevent your Dragon Queen from attacking; it also negates any effects she may have while she's still face-up on the Field. So instead of whatever higher ATK you were hoping to get with her, you're stuck with her original ATK strength now, just as she's stuck in the bog."

Jason looked back at her Dragon Queen, watching as she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes as she pulled with all of her might against the inescapable grasp of the girl's Trap Card. After a few seconds, she gave up her struggle, giving a humiliated sigh and letting her head look downwards, both tired and completely embarrassed by her predicament.

"You… how dare you!" Jason shouted. "You've made a complete fool out of my Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos!"

"Oh? You don't like that?" the girl questioned before growling and starting to yell. "Well, maybe now you understand how I felt when you stole what belonged to me! Let the humiliation sink into you, and wallow in it like the swine that you are!"

Jason gave a growl and took a step back, Frederick watching from a distance with a little gulp. Jason was starting to lose his cool. This girl had outplayed him so many times, and she was starting to get into his head. He had never seen Jason this stressed out during a duel before.

"Now then, since your precious Dragon Queen was made useless by my Trap Card, how about you end your turn now, so I can finish you off?"

"Hold on a minute! I'm not even close to being done yet!" Jason answered as he looked down for a minute, closing his eyes and giving a sigh, trying to cool off. If he kept letting her rile him up so much like this, he was never going to be able to turn this duel around. He had to try to keep his cool.

After getting cooled off enough to think clearly again, Jason took his Deck out once again. "Don't forget, since I Special Summoned my LIGHT Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos, I'm allowed to bring this card out again! So say hello to my Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos!" The portal of light appeared once again as the Divine Chimera leapt out with a roar, growling as it looked about ready to pounce.

"So be it. My Trap Bog was already used this turn, so I can't use its effect on your Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos." the girl responded.

"Well in that case, I'm getting the ability of my Divine Chimera now, allowing me to take any Spell or Trap card that specifically lists Pure Chaos and put it into my Hand. So now I'm using his effect to add my Entryway to Pure Chaos from my Deck to my Hand. And now, since I can still attack with him… go, my Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos! Destroy her face-down Monster!"

With a roar, the Divine Chimera leapt forward towards the face-down card. The face-down Monster flipped face-up, revealing another Winged Rainbow Girl, who was quickly dispatched of by the claws of the Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos.

"And down goes your birdie!" Jason said with a proud nod.

"Indeed, and I thank you for what you've just done." the girl replied with a smirk, causing confusion to both Jason and Frederick. "You see, by destroying my Winged Rainbow Girl, you've activated the effect of a card in my Hand; a Monster that can Special Summon itself to the field if a Winged-Beast, or a Monster with "Winged" in its name is destroyed, either by battle or by your card effect."

"And since I just destroyed your Winged Rainbow Girl by battle, you're going to Special Summon it, I assume." Jason finished for her.

"You assume correctly. And this one is going to be the one to put you in your place!" the girl responded as she put the card from her Hand to the duel disk. "Say hello to one of my personal favorite cards! Descend from the sky and cast vengeance on our foe! Winged Punisher!"

From a growing mound of black feathers burst out the Winged Punisher. She appeared more like an angel than a harpie, with her black wings being completely separated from her arms. She wore a black thigh-slit-dress, revealing a gray, transparent pair of thigh high socks. Her hair was raven black, and she wore a black masquerade mask that only went over her left eye. In her right hand, she bore a very heavy looking scythe that she easily held, with a spear head at the bottom that seemed to let it function as a weapon as much as the blade of the scythe itself. Her stats appeared and showed her to be a Level 10 DARK Winged-Beast with 4000 ATK and 1000 DEF.

"4000 ATK Points! Just for destroying that one Rainbow Girl?!" Frederick asked.

"The Winged Punisher shows no mercy to anyone who would dare harm any of her people." the girl started. "Any enemies of her or her people are quickly met with the sharp ends of her scythe as judgment is swiftly cast upon her foes. Only the strongest and luckiest of the fools who would dare to challenge her could hope to face such a powerful Monster, and live to tell about it. And I can promise you this, card thief. You are not going to one of those fools. You fall, here and now, to the judgment of my Winged Monsters!"

Jason gave a little gulp and took a bit of a step back. Not even his Sorceress of Pure Chaos was going to be able to stand up to that kind of firepower. "You know, on second thought, I think I'd like to take back my previous attack, please."

"It's too late to atone for your sins. Something that you'll find out right now." the girl responded as she drew her next card and gave a little hum. "First, I'm going to activate the effect of my Continuous Spell, Harpie's Golden Eggs. Once per turn, simply by giving up my Normal Summon for the turn, I'm allowed to Special Summon, to my side of the Field, a Harpie Egg Token in Defense Mode." From the ground appeared a large golden egg, which showed to be a Level 1 WIND Winged-Beast with 0 ATK and DEF.

"You're giving up your Normal Summon for something like that? Why?" Jason questioned.

"You're not going to be surviving this duel long enough to find out." the girl answered. "...But if, for some reason, you somehow do survive much longer, I'll be more than happy to tell you. For now, though, I'll also be bringing out my Winged Feather Dragon in Defense Mode."

She took the card out from her Hand and placed it in Defense Mode, revealing a large, pink, six winged dragon with feathers all over its body, and what appeared to be flowing orange hair. Its stats revealed a Level 8 WIND Dragon-Type with 2500 ATK and 3000 DEF. "You see, since I control a face-up Winged-Beast Monster, I'm allowed to Special Summon my Winged Feather Dragon directly to my Field from my Hand. And what's more, when she's brought out to the Field by her own effect, she shuffles all of the cards in our Graveyard back into their respective Deck."

"Fine by me. I was hoping to get some of these guys back into my Deck some time anyway." Jason said as both he and the girl shuffled all the cards in their Graveyards back into their Decks.

"Let's see what good that will do you when I start attacking. Winged Punisher, destroy his Divine Chimera again, and send it off for good this time! Punishing Reap!" With a powerful yell, the Winged Punisher swung her scythe, bringing it down onto the helpless Chimera, who gave a loud roar as he was cut down and destroyed, costing Jason another 1700 Life Points.

"You may have destroyed my Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos, and brought me down to just 5500 Life Points left, but did you forget about my Chimera's special ability?!" Jason questioned. "When he's removed from the Field, he allows me to shuffle either all of my Pure Chaos Monsters, or all of my Spell and Trap cards for my Pure Chaos Monsters back into my Deck, and then draw 1 card!"

"It's such a shame, then, that he's not going to be able to activate his special ability." the girl responded with a smirk. "After all, how can you activate an effect to shuffle cards in your Graveyard and draw 1 card when there are no cards in your Graveyard to shuffle?"

"What are you talking about?! You may have shuffled all of the cards in my Deck already, but my Divine Chimera's effect works on him too! I can use his effect to shuffle himself back into the Deck and get my draw, even if he's the only card in my Graveyard!"

"What I mean is that your Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos isn't going to be hitting the Graveyard at all. Thanks to my Winged Punisher's own special effect. When she destroys a Monster you control by battle, that Monster doesn't go into the Graveyard. It's removed from the game."

"What did you just say?!" Jason asked as he looked at his Graveyard. "But, if my Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos doesn't hit the Graveyard-"

"Then you have nothing in your Graveyard." the girl finished with a smirk. "Which means that you can't shuffle anything from your Graveyard back into your Deck, and therefore, don't get your extra draw either."

"Oh man. Not only is he not getting an extra draw, but now his Divine Chimera is out of the game for good." Frederick said as he gulped nervously. "I've never seen someone outplay Jason like this before."

Jason gave a little growl. As much as he hated to admit it, Frederick was right. Every single time Jason has managed to take control of the duel in some way, this girl was able to snatch it right back from him. "What's the matter, card thief? Perhaps you're now starting to see just how hopeless this duel is for you… perhaps you'd be better off just taking a knee before I can humiliate you any further. Yes. How does that sound? Back out of this duel and give me back what you've taken from me, and maybe I'll consider sparing you from any more suffering."

"Well… I'm afraid that's not gonna be happening… because I didn't take anything from you... " Jason said, trying to get himself back together. "And I'm not going to let you continue bullying me around over something I didn't do!" He took out his card and looked at it before adding it to his Hand and placing one other card face-down. "I'll just be playing one card face-down, then I'll switch my Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos into Defense Mode. It's your turn."

"And I'm going to guess you're hoping that I attack and activate that little Trap you just put down?" the girl questioned as she drew her card. "Sorry to say, but I'm not going to let that happen. Not when I have my Winged Feather Dragon out on my side of the Field." She took the card that she just drew and discarded it to the Graveyard. "Once per turn, all I have to do is discard 1 card from my Hand, such as my Winged Seductress. When I do, my feathery dragon friend destroys 1 Spell or Trap card that you control."

"Well, that's just great!" Jason exclaimed with a little groan. He was starting to get annoyed at this point. "Anything else you want to say that will royally screw me over while you're at it?!"

"Well, if you insist." the girl answered with a shrug. "Any other card effects that you may want to activate when I activate my WInged Feather Dragon's effect can't be activated in response to her effect. Leaving you with absolutely no ways of protecting your face-down card as I activate my Dragon's effect to destroy it."

The Dragon gave a loud roar as she began to flap her six wings, a strong gust of wind being produced from them as Jason's face-down card was destroyed, which was revealed to be his Mirror Force. "His Mirror Force?! Oh man. That could have totally changed this duel around if he was able to activate that!" Frederick exclaimed.

"Maybe for just a little while. But it wouldn't have been anything I couldn't recover from." the girl responded with a shake of her head. "Now then, with nothing else on the Field to stop me, I think that your Sorceress has outstayed her welcome in defending you. Winged Punisher, slice the Sorceress of Pure Chaos down! Punishing Reap!"

Obediently, the Winged Punisher flew in once again, and slashed through the Sorceress of Pure Chaos. Even her powerful defenses weren't enough to save her from the power of the Winged Punisher. "My Sorceress may be down…" Jason started. "But she did her job perfectly by protecting my Life Points from your attack!"

"Not quite. After all, you're still going to be taking some damage." the girl responded. Before Jason even had a chance to ask what she meant, from where the Sorceress of Pure Chaos once was, a red mist flowed into the spear end of the Winged-Beast's scythe, who promptly then held her scythe in both hands as she drove the spear end into Jason.

"Jason!" Frederick yelled as he watched Jason yell out in pain, his Life Points being knocked down to just 5000 now.

"The Winged Punisher is astounding in her job, is she not?" the girl questioned. "It's true that your Sorceress of Pure Chaos was in Defense Mode, but my Punisher doesn't care. When she attacks a Monster in Defense Position that has less DEF than her ATK, the difference is dealt to your Life Points as piercing Battle Damage.

"Oh… that's just great. So now I can't even defend myself from this woman…" Jason muttered.

"And don't forget the other ability of my Winged Punisher. Your Sorceress of Pure Chaos joins your Divine Chimera in being removed from the game."

"I'm well aware of that. But that's not going to stop me from winning this game!" Jason said before looking at his Hand. "_Or maybe it will… I don't know who this girl is, but for this entire game, she's been completely messing up my strategies six ways from Sunday… if I'm gonna have any chance of beating her, I gotta make my moves now._"

He drew his card and looked at the card he just drew. "_...This card might be able to help me out… maybe… but that's not guaranteed with her Winged Feather Dragon's ability…_" He placed the one card he had just drawn into the Spell/Trap Zone and nodded quietly to the girl, to tell her it was her turn.

"Hmph. So you're finally learning to stand down, are you? Such a shame you couldn't behave like this in the first place. Now it's my turn." the girl said as she drew her card and looked at it. The only card in her hand at the moment. She looked back at the Field that Jason had. She COULD use her Winged Feather Dragon's ability to destroy the card he just put face-down… but then would discarding her one and only card be worth it…? She could easily attack Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos and destroy her with Winged Punisher, while dealing another 1000 damage to Jason, but her ability to remove her from the game would go exactly against her plan… she stood quietly for a second as she debated with herself what she should do.

"...I'll skip my turn." she said. "Go ahead and make your move."

"What? Skip your turn?" Jason questioned. "...But why? You could easily attack my Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos with your Winged Punisher if you wanted to… why aren't you doing anything?"

"Are you saying you want me to attack?" the girl questioned with a raise of her eyebrow, causing Jason to gulp a bit. "...Well, I could easily destroy your Dragon Queen if I wanted, yes… but I have other plans for her, plans that I can't exactly execute just yet."

"I see… well, if you won't go, then it will be your funeral. My move!" Jason called out as he looked at the card he drew. Nothing that he could use to change the Duel around just yet… but maybe on his next turn, he might be able to do something with it. For now, however, he took one card from his Hand and activated it. "I'm activating the Continuous Spell Card, Fallen Rider's Stand! You'll see what this card does later. I end my turn."

"Then it's my turn. And now…" the girl started as she drew her next card. "I'm going to activate the ability of my Harpie's Golden Eggs to Special Summon another Harpie Egg Token during my Standby Phase." Another golden egg appeared on her side of the Field. "But don't worry. It won't be there long. Because I'm getting rid of it in order to Summon my Winged Thunder Mistress."

"Winged Thunder Mistress?" Jason questioned. "Just who are you trying to fool? You've used the effect of your Harpie's Golden Eggs. And just as you said yourself, when you activate that effect, you can't Normal Summon for the rest of the turn."

"Perhaps you weren't paying attention." The girl answered with a little scoff. "I'm not Normal Summoning my Winged Thunder Mistress. I'm using her ability from my Hand. You see, simply by Tributing 1 Winged-Beast I control, I can Special Summon my Winged Thunder Mistress straight from my Hand. And the Harpie Egg Token that I just played will fit that bill just nicely. Now, I tribute the Harpie Egg Token I just summoned, in order to Special Summon my Winged Thunder MIstress!"

Just as she had said, her golden egg disappeared in an array of blue electricity, and out from it emerged the Winged Thunder Mistress. "And now, I activate my Winged Thunder Mistress' special ability. As I said earlier, by giving up my ability to attack with my Winged Thunder Mistress this turn, I can destroy any 1 card on the Field. And I know just the one that I'll go for. I use my Winged Thunder Mistress' special ability to destroy your Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos!"

The Winged Thunder Mistress flew up in the air a little bit before giving off a powerful screech, a bolt of blue electricity being fired at the Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos, who was still trapped in the ground. Knowing that there was no way she would be able to save herself, the Dragon Queen closed her eyes and braced herself before she was struck with the lightning, and completely destroyed.

"But why would she use Winged Thunder Mistress for that?!" Frederick exclaimed. "What was the point of waiting for so long when she had the Winged Punisher on her Field?!"

Jason gave a little hum as he looked back at Frederick. While he was quite confused on that before, he had figured it all out now. "Well… if her Winged Punisher would have destroyed my Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos, she would have been removed from play, just like my Sorceress and my Chimera before her." Jason started as he looked back at the girl. "If she waited until she had the ability of her Winged Thunder Mistress to destroy my Dragon Queen, that must mean that she didn't want it to be removed from play for one reason or another."

"That's right, card thief. And you're gonna love the reason as to why." the girl responded with a smirk and a nod. "You see, my Trap Bog has another special ability. When a Monster that's targeted by its effect is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, during my next Standby Phase after that, I get to Special Summon the Monster that was stuck in its grip, at the cost of not being able to attack with it, and having its effects negated."

"So she was planning on stealing your Monster and using it against you?!" Frederick exclaimed.

"Either that, or she was just doing it to try to humiliate me even further." Jason grumbled.

"It would serve you right for what you've done to me, wouldn't it?" the girl questioned with a little smirk. "Either way, it's not like it matters anyway. Now, without your Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos, you're left completely defenseless."

"That's not entirely true." Jason answered. "By destroying my Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos, you've just allowed me to activate two of my cards' abilities. First, we have the ability of my Dragon Queen herself! Since she was destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, she's no longer under the effect of your Trap Bog, which means I can activate her ability to Special Summon any Level 8 Dragon from my Deck after she's destroyed. And I've got just the one I want. I'm going to Special Summon my Pure Chaos Spirit Drake to the Field, in Defense Mode!"

From the ground where the Dragon Queen was slain, a bright light shined as a new creature emerged from the ground. It was a dragon with light blue scales that was almost entirely encased in a shining white armor, its shoulders and the end of its tail covered in what appeared to be a brownish-gold hair of sorts, while its wings were adorned with many white feathers, like those of a bird. It also had two arms rather than front legs. It was a Level 8 Dragon-Type, just as Jason said, while also being a LIGHT Monster with 3000 ATK and DEF.

"Another Dragon, huh? Fine then. It's nowhere close to being strong enough against my Winged Punisher, so I won't bother using my Trap Bog on it." the girl commented as she awaited for the second ability to be activated.

"The second ability comes with my Fallen Rider's Stand Spell Card. When you destroy a Pure Chaos Ritual Monster of mine, this Spell Card Special Summons a "Chaos Rider Token" and a "Chaos Dragon Token" to my side of the Field. These tokens share the same Attribute and Level of the destroyed Ritual Monster, while also having ATK and DEF equal to half of the original ATK and DEF of the Ritual Monster."

On Jason's side of the Field appeared two other Monsters, one looking like the Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos herself, while the other looked to be the green dragon that was used in her attacks. Both of them were in Defense Mode, having 1000 ATK and 1500 DEF.

"Shame for you they're not going to be lasting that long then." the girl said as took her one card in hand and discarded it to the Graveyard. "For now, however, since you've gotten some more cards on the Field, and I can't run the risk of that face-down being something important, I'm just going to go ahead and discard my Harpie's Exile, and activate the ability of my Winged Feather Dragon to destroy your face-down card." The Winged Feather Dragon began to beat its 6 wings once again, and Jason's face-down card was destroyed.

"Now, let's go ahead and dish out some more pain." the girl said as she pointed to the Chaos Rider Token. "Winged Punisher, dispatch that rider now with Punishing Reap!" Winged Punisher flew once again and slashed at the token with her scythe, earning a pained scream from her as she disappeared. Once she was gone, the Winged Punisher flew to Jason and stuck the spear end of her scythe in him, earning a pained scream from him as his Life Points were cut down by half.

"Jason!" Frederick exclaimed. "Now he only has 2500 Life Points left! All that Winged Punisher has to do is attack that other token on her next turn, and she can win the duel!"

"That's right. And nothing you have will be strong enough to defeat my Winged Punisher." the girl said with a smirk. "Go ahead and make your last move… but you know that on my next turn, your token is going to be destroyed, and you along with it. It's over, card thief."

"I already told you… my name is Jason." Jason responded before looking up and smirking. "And on the contrary… this duel is only just getting started… you've made a grievous mistake on your last turn, and I'm going to capitalize on it."

"Oh, is that so? Very well then. Show me what you've got."

"With pleasure." Jason responded as he put his thumb and finger over the top card of his deck, ready to draw it. "Alright, deck. Gimme some gold here. I draw!"

He drew his card and looked at it and the other cards in his hand before giving a grin. "...Freddy. What's the first thing I taught you about dueling these past few days?"

Frederick was silent for a few seconds before giving a little smile. "...You told me that a duel is never over until it's over. That no matter how bad things are, there's always a chance for a comeback."

"That's right. And now you're going to see that firsthand!" Jason said as he took a card and opened up the Field Spell Zone compartment of his duel disk. "Because for this turn, I'll be activating a little gift from my good friend, Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos! I'm taking this duel to the Entryway to Pure Chaos!"

He put the card into the compartment and let it close. All of a sudden, the entire area around them began to change. The very ground beneath their feet seemed to disappear, and now they seemed to have been standing on nothing. The entire area around them had been changed to a strange dimension, which had blues of varying colors showing up, as well as constantly switching between bright light to pitch black darkness at random.

"Nice light show." the girl mocked with a scoff. "But if you think this Field Spell of yours is going to make any difference, you're sadly mistaken."

"Oh, I'm afraid that this Field Spell Zone is going to have a profound effect on this card game. Especially if I'm activating this Spell Card. Go, Chaotic Ritual!" He played his Ritual Card, the area around part of his Monster Zone began to distort. "For this Ritual Summon, I'm going to be Ritual Summoning a Level 10 Monster this time. So now I'm going to be sending from my Deck to the Graveyard, my Level 8 Pure Chaos Dragon for my DARK Monster, and 2 of my Level 1 Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos, one from my Deck and the other from my Hand, for the LIGHT Monsters."

A new Monster began to form in the distortion. Frederick was watching in fascination. "This will allow me to Ritual Summon this Monster. Say hello to the Monster that's gonna turn this duel around for me! Rise, Eclipse - Dragon of Pure Chaos!"

A new Monster appeared from the distortion; a two legged dragon that was bathed in a white, shining light. Its body was a different array of gray and white scales, the back of its neck being covered in flowing dark gray hair. The end of its tail had long, gray feathers pointing out of it, and just over the end was the shape of a crescent moon in its tail. It let out a long, echoing hum as it raised its wings a bit to let its information show it to be a Level 10 DARK Dragon-Type with 4500 ATK and 3000 DEF.

"Impressive Dragon, but I think you're forgetting something." the girl said smugly as she pointed to her Trap Card. "Haven't you forgotten about my Trap Bog Trap Card? Once per turn, when one of us Normal or Special Summons a Monster, I can target that Monster and prevent it from attacking, while also negating its effect. And I use it to target your Eclipse and keep it in place."

"I'm afraid you're mistaken on that." Jason replied with a smirk. "I told you that my Entryway to Pure Chaos was going to have a profound effect on this duel. And now it's showing one of its effects now. While my Entryway to Pure Chaos is out on the Field, all Pure Chaos Monsters are unaffected by any card effects except for their own. So even though your Trap Bog DOES indeed resolve by targeting my Eclipse, my Eclipse is safe from its effect."

"So that means that Eclipse is free to attack and use whatever effects it has, despite Trap Bog." Frederick said.

"Not only that, but my Entryway to Pure Chaos also has another special effect, one that activates as soon as I Ritual Summon a Pure Chaos Ritual Monster, like I just did." Jason went on. "When I do, my Entryway to Pure Chaos allows me to banish a number of Spell or Trap cards you control, up to the number of Monsters I used for the Ritual Summon. And if my memory serves me correctly… I believe I used 3 Monsters for bringing out my Eclipse."

The girl gave a little growl and took a step back. "However, as it stands now, you only have 2 Spell or Trap cards on your side of the Field, so I'm going to have make due with that. I banish your Trap Bog and your Harpie's Golden Eggs!"

"But with my Trap Bog off of the Field, I won't be able to Special Summon your Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos!" the girl exclaimed as she watched her Trap Card and her Spell Card disappear from the Field, removed from the game.

"Exactly. It's better that my Dragon Queen be stuck in the Graveyard than stuck in your bog." Jason said. "But my Eclipse's summoning didn't just activate my Field Spell's ability. You see, since I Special Summoned a DARK Pure Chaos Monster while my Pure Chaos Spirit Drake is on my side of the Field, his ability kicks in as well, giving him a 3000 ATK boost until the End Phase, while also preventing you from taking any damage from battles involving it this turn."

As the dragon's ATK doubled for the turn, Jason switched him into Attack Mode before saying, "Now I activate my Eclipse's special ability. Once per turn, I can target any Pure Chaos Monster I have in my Graveyard, and my Eclipse's Attribute changes to the same Attribute of the Monster I targeted. And I'll use my Dragon Queen in my Graveyard to change my Eclipse into a LIGHT Monster."

"But why? What's the point in changing the Attribute of your Monster now?" the girl questioned.

"I'm happy to explain." Jason responded with a smirk. "You see, while my Eclipse is out on the Field, it gains 500 ATK for every Pure Chaos Monster I have in my Graveyard that has the same Attribute that it has. As a DARK Monster, it only got an extra 500 ATK, since I had my Pure Chaos Dragon as the only DARK Monster in my Grave. However, thanks to my Pure Chaos Dragon Queen and my two Souls in my Graveyard, I have a total of 3 LIGHT Pure Chaos Monsters in my Graveyard."

"Which will increase Eclipse's ATK by 1500!" Frederick exclaimed. "That means that Jason now has 2 Monsters with 6000 ATK on his side of the Field, which means he has two Monsters that are strong enough to take down Winged Punisher!"

"That's indeed the case… but I never really needed something with that much ATK to destroy Winged Punisher. Thanks to her mistake, I only needed something with more than 2000 ATK. And since he's not going to be able to do any damage this turn… I'll have my Pure Chaos Spirit Drake attack her Winged Thunder Mistress!"

"Oh no!" the girl shouted as she finally realized what Jason was meant about her making a mistake. "If my Winged Thunder Mistress is destroyed, then all other Monsters on the Field are going to be destroyed as well!"

"And since my Pure Chaos Monsters are under the protection of my Entryway to Pure Chaos, they're going to be spared from your Winged Thunder Mistress' effect." Jason explained. "Your Winged Monsters, on the other hand, won't be so lucky! Go, Spirit Drake! Destroy her Winged Thunder Mistress, and blast all those birds out of the sky! Solar Strike!"

The Dragon charged forward with a roar, its entire body radiating with light energy from the power up it got from its own ability as it struck down the Winged Thunder Mistress with a powerful swing of its claws, earning a shrill scream from the Monster as it turned into a sphere of blue lightning and went up into the sky.

"I can't stop it!" the girl yelled just before the lightning bolts came striking from the sky. Her Winged Feather Dragon gave a loud roar and her Winged Punisher growled in pain before the two of them were taken by the storm, along with the Harpie Egg Token and the Chaos Dragon Token that Jason still had on his side of the Field. His other two Monsters, on the other hand, simply stood their ground. As the lightning came towards them, the air around them distorted enough so that the bolts harmlessly disappeared before they could harm them.

"Since my Chaos Dragon Token was unfortunately not pure enough in the chaos department, it unfortunately doesn't get to survive your Monster's ability. But that's alright, as long as I still have my two Pure Chaos Monsters. And the best part is, with no Monsters on your side of the Field, and one of mine still having an attack to use up, your Life Points are about to take a major hit! Go, Eclipse! Attack her directly!"

With another little hum, the dragon looked towards the sky and extended its wings a bit. Past all of the distortion in the sky from the Entryway to Pure Chaos card, a bright, shining sun appeared in the center and radiated energy onto Eclipse, which glowed even brighter thanks to the energy it received from the sun. It looked down at the girl and gave a little flap of its wings, a huge blast of pure light energy being fired from the dragon's entire body directly at the girl.

With no Monsters on her side of the Field and no face-down cards that could possibly protect her, the girl had no choice but to take the full force of the attack. She gave a loud, pained scream as she was thrown back from the force of the attack, her Life Points dropping from a rather impressive 7700 to just a mere 1700.

"Alright!" Frederick cheered. "Way to take back control of this duel, Jason! Now you've got her on the ropes, and she doesn't have any cards in her hand!"

Jason gave a nod and a thumbs up to Frederick before turning back to the girl, who was slow to get up. "You got too cocky in your plan and the advantage you had." he said. "You thought that I wouldn't be able to come back, and completely overlooked your own Monster's ability, and how it could have been used against you…"

"I… I'm not finished yet." the girl responded as she stood up, balling her hand up into a fist. "...You fight well… I'll give you that… I can't remember the last time that someone gave me this kind of trouble… but you still haven't won yet… I won't let you win… I've come too far and have too much on the line… I will NOT lose to a filthy card thief like you!"

"Will you stop calling me that?!" Jason yelled. "How many times do I have to tell you?! I'm not a thief, and I didn't steal anything from you!"

"I won't listen to any of your lies!" the girl shouted back. "You DID steal that card from me! You proved that to me when you showed me it!"

"I… did what?" Jason questioned in surprise and confusion.

Frederick looked at the girl again and thought back to the conversation that took place before the duel started. He gave a little shocked gasp as, all of a sudden, it started to hit him. Calling Jason a card thief… her entire deck being filled with Winged Monsters… he couldn't believe he didn't recognize it sooner.

"Jason!" he called over to his friend. "The Winged Love Princess!"

"Huh?" Jason took the Winged Love Princess out again and stared at it for a little bit, putting two and two together. "...Wait a minute… you mean that the Winged Love Princess is your card?!"

"As if you didn't already know that!" the girl answered. "There's only one copy of that card in the world, and I have it… or at least I did, until you snuck in and stole it from me! You were probably just trying to make a quick buck out of a rare, valuable card, weren't you?!"

"H-hey! Wait a minute! This is all just one, big misunderstanding! I didn't steal this card!"

"Jason's right!" Frederick said as he ran out and stood with his friend. "I was there when he got it! He won that card in a duel!"

"I've had enough of your lies! I'll get what's mine back, even if I have to kill you to get it back!" the girl shrieked with a growl as she put her hand on her deck, ready to draw again.

"I'm afraid they're not lying to you."

The familiar voice interrupted the duel, causing all three of them to look in the direction of where it came from.

"...As much as it pains me to admit it, Jason is telling the truth… I would know… I'm the one he won that card from, after all."

"M-Mal…?" Jason asked in shock. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

Malcolm just gave a scoff and crossed his arms. "If you must know, I was just finishing up some business of mine around here, and I decided to come over to pay you a visit, and try to get a rematch off of you." he answered. "...However, it seems that you already have your hands quite full now, don't you?"

"...You…?" the girl questioned as she slowly turned to Malcolm, that crazed, killing intent still in her eyes. "...You're… the one he got this card from?"

"Wait… so… does that mean…" Frederick started as he and Jason looked at each other, both clearly thinking the same thing.

"Mal…" Jason started as he turned back to look at him. "...Does that mean… YOU were the one that stole that card from her?"

"Don't be an idiot, Jason." Malcolm replied with a scoff and a shake of his head. "I'm many things, but I'm not a thief. I don't need to steal cards. When I want a card, I get it the same way I get my respect: by earning it."

The girl looked at Jason and then at Malcolm. "...Then tell me… if you aren't the one that stole my card… and if he isn't the one… then who did?"

"I think I have a good idea. As a matter of fact, I just faced him not too long ago." Malcolm said. "Some creep that lurks around in the Dark Alley of Nightmare. Goes by the name 'Lou'. Apparently he was just heading back from getting something valuable, when I dueled him and won the Winged Love Princess from him… and it sounds to me that that card of yours may have just been that valuable item he was talking about. You wanna find someone to blame for all this… try talking to him."

The girl went silent as she stared at Malcolm, clearly trying to decide whether or not he was telling the truth. While she had no idea who he was, and the fact that he had apparently been in the Dark Alley of Nightmare, or at least close enough to know that the apparent true culprit came from there, was somewhat suspicious, but he showed no signs of lying.

"Hey… if it will make you calm down a bit… here. You can have this back." Jason said as he handed her the Winged Princess card, much to her surprise. "Should have just told me that this was your card from the beginning… if I had known this card was stolen, I never would have accepted it in the first place."

"Well… she kind of did tell us, Jason… we just didn't understand what she was talking about until now." Frederick said with a little nod as they both watched the girl quietly, waiting to see what she would do now.

She was silent as she stared at the card that was now in her hand, processing all that had happened. She had been doing nothing but accusing Jason of stealing that card for the entirety of the duel, but now, when they all figure out what was going on, he just gave it to her right there, without any qualms.

Not saying a word, but giving a little sigh, the girl put the card she was just handed into her deck before turning around and walking away. As she left, the holograms of the duel slowly began to disappear. "H-hey! Where are you going?! We haven't finished our duel yet!" Jason called after her, but the girl didn't listen. She just kept walking away, leaving the three guys standing there, watching her go.

"...Well… that was certainly something." Frederick said with a little huff. "...Can you believe her? Yelling at you this entire time, even threatening to kill you to get what she wanted, just to turn around and walk away without a single apology once she got what she wanted."

"...I don't know, Fred." Jason said as he gave a hum and looked at his duel disk. "...That was a really amazing duel. She can really play… I just wish that we could have finished the duel… or that she could have given us her name, at least…"

Frederick gave a sigh and a little shake of his head, not really sure what else to say. Jason slowly put his deck and his duel disk back into his backpack before looking back to Malcolm. "...I guess I owe you a bit of thanks, don't I? If you hadn't come along and helped explain the truth, I don't know what crazy thing she would have tried."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever… but I didn't come here to save you." Malcolm responded. "I came here because I was hoping to get another duel with you… you humiliated me once, Jason, and I want a rematch."

"Well… I would love to duel you again, Mal… but…" Jason started with a little chuckle. "Uhhhh… that last duel I just had really took quite a lot out of me…"

"That and we already have our own plans." Frederick piped up as he pointed at his watch. "Your duel with that girl really burnt up some time, Jason. If we want to get to the Duel Monsters Club on time, we gotta get going now."

"Oh, right. I completely forgot about that." Jason started before looking back at Malcolm. "Sorry, man… maybe another time?"

Malcolm gave a little scoff and closed his eyes, trying to mask his irritation. "And here I thought you never backed down from a challenge…" he said before giving a little shrug. "...But I suppose it wouldn't be fair to duel you when you're not at your best… besides, I have 3 weeks yet until I have to duel you again anyway, so I have some time."

"3 weeks?" Jason questioned, making Malcolm realize that he had just said too much. "What does that mean?"

"Uhhh… nothing. Just forget about it. You wouldn't understand." Malcolm responded quickly. "Just… go on with your little club meeting. I'll duel you some other time."

"Oh… well… alright." Jason responded with a little hesitant nod as he loaded his stuff back up into his car before he and Frederick got in and took off, Jason looking back at his rear-view mirror to watch Malcolm going about his own way as well.

"Well… that was certainly something, wasn't it?" Frederick questioned with a little shake of his head. "Getting dueled by some crazed chick who wants her card back, and being saved by Mal, of all people… I'm telling you, I don't think this day could have gone any further south if we hit Mexico on the way here."

"Yeah… certainly was something." Jason responded half-heartedly as he kept his eyes on the road, while also still thinking about what had happened back there… that girl that came after him… despite how she acted, he was really fascinated by how she dueled… he couldn't wait to get another shot at her, and despite not knowing who she was, he had a feeling that that wasn't going to be the last time he saw her.

At the same time, however, there was also the possible perpetrator of the crime that was on his mind, who Malcolm seemed to have identified without any problems… someone coming out of the Dark Alley of Nightmare wasn't anything out of the realm of possibility, but at the same time, him being able to get away with stealing something so easily was kind of worrying to Jason. What if he came back to try to steal from that girl again? Or even worse, try to steal from him? Perhaps the criminals in there were getting braver and testing the waters to see how far out of the alleyways they could go… either way, Jason would have to be more careful from now on, it seemed.

But then there was also the question of Malcolm himself… what business did he have that just so happened to be so close to where Jason was living, and what was he doing in the Dark Alley of Nightmare to know as much about the thief as he did? And even more concerning, just what did he mean by having 3 weeks to challenge Jason again? Why was he suddenly on a time limit that he had to challenge Jason again? Who was putting it on him, if anyone, and what would happen if Jason didn't duel him again before 3 weeks pass by?

The day left him with plenty of questions, none of which he had any answers to, and didn't feel like he would be getting them any time soon. He just sighed and shook his head, hoping that his and Frederick's first day in the Duel Monsters Club would be able to help take some of that off his mind.


	5. A Foretold Crime Pt 1

It was another boring day in Spanish class. While Frederick and Jason were used to that class in particular being a slog to get through, things were even worse this time around. They had a substitute professor who was just so boring. He spoke in a monotone voice, and never interacted with the class at all, just lecturing through the notes he was left by the actual professor. It was so boring that it could put an insomniac to sleep.

As a matter of fact, Jason had actually fallen asleep in class again, just a few minutes into the lecture. While, under normal circumstances, Frederick would have woken him up as soon as he could, Frederick decided to let him rest instead, seeing how Jason wasn't the only one who drifted off this time.

In order to keep himself from doing the same, Frederick took out his laptop and began to look around on the internet to kill some time. While the usual professor would be objecting to the use of technology in her class, preferring the more standard method of pen and paper, this substitute didn't say anything about it. In fact, with how he was teaching, Frederick wouldn't have been surprised if the substitute didn't even notice that he had his laptop out.

Initially, he didn't see anything that really interested him. For the most part, it was just the usual drabble about places to go on vacation, which restaurants have the best french fries, and a few articles about how to lose weight, which Frederick decided to save the links to, just to mess around with Jason later.

He was about to give up and just start browsing around on some familiar favorites of his to pass the time, when, after looking up to the board and pretending to type a little bit, to make sure the professor didn't get suspicious of him, just in case he really was paying attention, he looked back down at his screen and saw an interesting headline pass through his startup page. Something about police preparing for a robbery in a card shop.

Upon seeing the picture accompanied by the title, Frederick was surprised to recognize the card shop that was in question. In fact, it was only a couple of minutes away from the university by car, and was a place where Jason and himself had gone to once or twice. It was also the hangout place for just about everyone else on the campus that played Duel Monsters. Though Frederick and Jason didn't go there as religiously as some others, the title alone was quite disturbing to see, especially considering that the card shop was one of the relatively smaller establishments in the area.

He wanted to look at the article even further, but glancing at the time on his laptop showed that there were only 2 minutes left of class by the time he found it. 2 minutes wouldn't have been enough for him to completely read the article, and the card shop was only a few minutes away, so he decided that he and Jason could investigate the matter on their own once they got out of class.

Closing his web browser down, looking over to make sure the professor still wasn't looking at the class, he reached his arm over and gave Jason a little shake from the shoulder to wake him up.

Jason took a deep breath as he began to wake up, slowly opening his eyes and blinking a few times to clear his vision and get some of the remaining drowsiness out of his eyes as he saw Frederick sitting there. He pointed to the clock, Jason following his finger and seeing that they were almost out of time. Giving a little nod of thanks to Frederick, Jason silently listened onto the remaining minute or two of the professor's lecture before the class was dismissed, Frederick and Jason packing up their things and leaving

"God… finally out of there. That guy must have been a robot in disguise, or something." Jason grumbled as he stretched a little bit once he and Frederick got outside. "...So… I'm in the mood for Italian food for lunch today… does that sound good to you?"

"Uhhhh… actually, before we go off for lunch, I was hoping that there was somewhere else we could go." Frederick answered, his eyes looking up to the sky. "...What say we head over to the card store first?"

"The card store…?" Jason questioned as he looked over at Frederick. "...I mean… I guess we could, if you really wanted to… but any particular reason why you want to go there before we get something to eat?"

"Actually… I've heard that there's something big going on over there right now… I don't really know any of the details, but I wanted to figure out what was up before it died down, or before it would get too hard to go there."

Jason was silent for a few seconds as he scratched his head in thought. He didn't know what Frederick was talking about, but eventually shrugged his shoulders. "Well… I guess if it's really that important to you… sure. I guess we can wait a little bit to eat."

After they had agreed on their destination, they began to make their way to Jason's car. The walk over to where he had parked was between a 10-15 minute walk. Frederick never understood why Jason always parked so far away from the halls where his classes were, especially when Jason absolutely hated having to travel longer distances by foot. He decided not to argue with him over it, though, as he didn't really mind the walk himself, and Jason didn't seem to be minding it too much either.

Once they got to their car, they put their bags in the back and got in, Jason taking the wheel while Frederick sat in the passenger's seat. Jason started the car up and began to drive to the card shop.

"...So… what exactly is the scoop here, Freddy?" Jason asked as he looked at Frederick a little bit. "What's going down at the card shop?"

"Well… to be honest, I'm not really sure." Frederick answered back. "...During Spanish class today, I was browsing around on my laptop, and I saw some kind of article about how the card shop is preparing for some kind of robbery that may be happening soon."

"A robbery…? Of the card shop…?" Jason questioned. He was clearly just as confused as Frederick was. "...And you're sure it was talking about this card shop, right? We're not the only place that has one of those, you know."

"Yeah, I know." Frederick answered. "But I saw the picture that was in the article, and it was a picture of ours. It has to be this one."

"Well… alright. If you say so… I guess it's worth looking into if that's the case."

They continued the ride over in silence, both imagining what exactly they were going to find when they got there. Jason didn't believe that there would be anything too big to find. The card shop was by no means the biggest place to hit in the town. If someone wanted to pull some kind of heist. Surely they would think about hitting a place where they could get more of a reward.

When they had arrived, however, Jason was quite surprised to see that it was just as Frederick had said. There were several police cars parked outside, a note taped onto the door, saying that they were currently closed until further notice, and several people standing outside of the building, trying to look in through the windows to see what was going on. There were also a few police officers circling around the building, inspecting the building for any potential openings and hooking a couple of things up outside the building, namely alarms and security cameras.

"...Well… guess you were right about something going on…" Jason commented as he parked his car into the parking lot, parking in an open spot that was as far away from the building and the police vehicles as he could get away with. He didn't want to be in the way. "...This is probably the busiest I've seen our police force working in trying to handle something…"

They got out of the car and stood where they were, looking at the scene that was going on. "Man, look at all of those people already over there." Frederick said. "I don't think we'll be able to find anything out any time quick."

"Not on our own, anyway…" Jason continued on with a little hum, tapping his fingers on the roof of his car in thought. While he wasn't interested in exploring at first, now that he saw that there was something going on, his interest had peaked.

He visually scanned around the area for something, or someone, that could get them better informed on the situation at hand. He was looking mostly for a police officer that didn't seem to be doing a whole lot, or perhaps someone that wasn't peering so closely into the window that might have had a better idea of what the situation was.

After a few seconds of looking, he noticed someone familiar standing a little closer to the building, but still a good distance away from the rest of the crowd. She seemed to have been doing the same thing that Jason was. "...Hey… isn't that…" he started before waving his hand and calling out to the person. "Hey! Carrie!"

Hearing the voice call out for her, Carrie turned around, surprised to see Jason and Frederick standing there. "Oh! Jason and Frederick!" she exclaimed as she ran over to them. Frederick gave a little gulp and shyly hid a bit behind Jason. "What are you two doing here?"

"From the looks of it, doing the exact same thing you are." Jason answered as he looked back at the building. "What the heck is going on here?"

"I don't really know… I was just looking around in there with some friends, in the hopes of getting my hands on some of the special cards they have right now. All of a sudden, we get all of these officers coming in, telling us all to get out and that the store was being closed for an emergency."

"Special cards? What do you mean by that?"

"You mean you haven't heard?" Carrie questioned in surprise. "For the next couple of weeks, in order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of this card shop opening, they're having a very special sale. They got some of the rarest and most powerful cards ever printed, as well as a few copies of some cards used by some of the most famous duelists in the world, like Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the End, and Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

"In that case, I guess that would explain why they're raising security up in this place." Frederick commented as he came out of hiding and looked down in thought.

Carrie gave a nod before speaking again. "From what little I've overheard, a note was left by someone. Apparently, whoever wrote the letter is planning to rob this place tonight, before anyone else has a chance to get their hands on too many of those rare and valuable cards."

"A note?" Jason questioned as he scratched his head in confusion. "Why would someone leave a note, warning us that they were going to rob this place? I thought that one of the biggest parts of planning something like this would be making sure that owners and the police would know nothing about it."

"Whatever the reason is, they're obviously taking this really seriously." Frederick commented. "This kind of work, I would expect if someone was going to rob a bank…"

"And that's why I'm still here, trying to find out what's going on." Carrie replied. "None of this is making a lot of sense… I get that there are a bunch of rare and potentially valuable cards in there, but-"

"Hey. You three." called one of the police officers, who seemed to have just gotten finished with whatever he was doing and was going to take a break when he noticed the three of them just standing around. "What are you doing, standing here by yourselves? You three ain't up to any mischief here, are you?"

"Huh? Who, us?" Jason questioned. "No, officer. We were just wondering what was going on here. That's all."

"Hmph. Just like everyone else over there." the officer muttered as he looked at everyone still around the card shop. "We shouldn't even be letting you near this building, since there's no telling what you all could be doing here…"

"And… what exactly is going on here?" Carrie questioned. "What's with all of the security and closing down the store?"

"If you must know, there was a note left to the owners earlier this morning. If what the letter said is correct, there's a planned robbery going on tonight. So we're preparing to catch the robber before they even have a chance to walk in those doors."

"Seems a little bit strange, all of this commotion over a card store, isn't it?" Jason questioned. "I don't see why all of this preparation is absolutely necessary. I mean, it's a card store robber, not a national criminal."

"Oh, but I'm afraid that's not quite the case." the police officer said before looking around. "...If you three must know, the letter seems to have been written by the one and only Magic Moe."

"Magic Moe?" Carrie questioned. "...Who's Magic Moe?" she looked at Jason, who just gave an unknowing shrug.

"I think I've heard of Magic Moe before…" Frederick started as he looked down in thought, Carrie and Jason both looking at him as he went on. "Magic Moe is one of the most infamous thieves around these parts, in his ability to steal without triggering any alarms or getting caught by any cameras… it's rumored that Magic Moe has psychic powers, allowing him to predict where everyone is during his heists, and where to go in order to avoid alerting anyone."

"Psychic powers? Come on." Jason said with a roll of his eyes. "That's ridiculous. There's no such thing as psychic powers."

"Psychic or not, it still doesn't change the fact that Magic Moe has committed countless robberies in these parts, and yet nobody has ever been able to find or catch him." the officer butted in with a grunt. "This could be our one chance in locking him up, and we're preparing everything we've got to finally get our hands on him."

"Magic Moe is always known for leaving notes at his targets before going for the steal." Frederick continued as he scratched his head a little bit. "Everywhere he leaves that note, they're always prepared for his robbery. Yet somehow, no matter how many cameras and alarms they set up, they're never able to catch so much as a shot of him… that's why a lot of people believe in his written boasts about his psychic powers. It's believed that he's able to know where every single guard, camera and alarm are at any given point, and can manipulate them all right on the fly."

"But… surely he's pulling their legs… I mean, seriously. You all don't really believe in that stuff, do you?"

"Whether or not it's true, it doesn't change how strange it is." Carrie answered as she looked down with a puzzled look. "With this kind of set up, someone doesn't just waltz in through the front door and take what they want without at least something picking up signs of him… he's either the luckiest criminal in the world, or there's something more to this."

"Either way, this has nothing to do with any of you." the officer reminded sternly, crossing his arms and pointing to his own badge. "This is the work of trained professionals. We don't need any meddling brats like you three, wandering around and making our jobs more difficult."

"Brats?!" Jason exclaimed. "Now wait just a minute there!" he started as he began to walk forward a bit, ready to remind the officer how inept the police force was at stopping these crimes in the first place.

Knowing exactly what his friend wanted to say, Frederick quickly took hold of Jason from behind and held him back. "Jason… the last thing you want to do is to pick a fight with law enforcement." he said before pulling him back a bit. "Come on. This is their job. We don't need to be disturbing them."

With a little defeated sigh, knowing that Frederick was right, Jason backed off and followed him back to the car. Carrie hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and following them. As they made their way to the vehicle, they overheard the officer that they just talked to, commanding everyone else that was around the building to leave at once.

As Jason and Frederick were getting ready to head out to finally get some lunch, they invited Carrie to join them, to which she agreed, having nothing better to do, now that they weren't allowed to be anywhere near the future crime scene. With very few answers and more questions, they all got in Jason's car, Jason driving them all to an Italian restaurant for lunch.

During the meal, both Frederick and Carrie barely touched any of their food, sitting in complete silence. Both of them were clearly still thinking about the situation at hand, and about this Magic Moe. For Carrie, it was one of her places of choice to hang out with her friends, and for Frederick, while he had very little connection to the place, he knew that it wasn't right to leave it to get robbed.

They weren't the only ones to be thinking about that, however. While Jason was trying to get the thought of it out of his mind through enjoying his meal, it was clear by how slowly he was eating that even he couldn't get it out of his mind.

"...Come on. Let's not let this situation get us down." Jason finally said after a while to his two friends, though it was clear he was mostly trying to convince himself. "...This isn't our problem. We're just a couple of college students… this is the police's job. All we can do at this point is just let them do their job, and hope that they can catch this Magic Mike."

"It's 'Magic Moe'. And they're dealing with a thief that's so skilled in what he does, he somehow manages to elude any sort of security set up for him." Frederick reminded Jason. "...If he succeeds and gets his hands on those special cards, he could potentially run that shop out of business."

"And the police here couldn't catch a criminal if the robbery was happening right next to the nearest coffee shop." Carrie added as she slowly stirred her pasta around with her fork. "If this crook can evade all of their arrest attempts so far, he's pretty much guaranteed to do it again."

Jason gave a sigh and put his fork down as he began to speak. "Look… I'm just as concerned about this as you two are… believe me. I am. But this is completely out of our control… I mean, face it. We're talking about an infamous thief, one who's evaded the entire police force, despite daring them to catch him… and we're just college students… there's nothing that we can do about this.

Frederick was silent for a while before shaking his head with a sigh. "...I'm not going to accept that." he said. "...There has to be something I can do. And I will do something about it."

"Fred, come on." Jason responded, trying to talk some sense into him.

"I'm not going to just sit around and watch as a small shop that means so much to this place goes out of business at the hands of one thief. Not while I can do something about it."

"Freddy, you're being ridiculous." Jason said. "Come on. You said it yourself. This is the job of the police. I mean… we're not talking about some little kid robbing a candy store. This is a professional criminal we're talking about. Can you imagine what kind of dangerous stuff he's going to have on him?"

"Yeah… I know it's not the smart thing to do… but it is the right thing." Frederick continued. "...Whatever it's going to take to help the police and those shop owners catch this guy, I'm going to help in any way I can."

"Well… if that's really the way you feel… then you can count me in." Carrie said.

Both Frederick and Jason looked at Carrie in surprise. Neither of them were expecting her to join in on Frederick's side. "Carrie…"

"You said it yourself, Fred. We can't let this Magic Moe get away with what he plans to do." Carrie continued as she put her hand on Frederick's shoulder, earning a small blush from him. "If that Magic Moe really wants to get his hands on those cards, then he's going to have to answer to us beforehand."

"You can't be serious." Jason grumbled. "Were you two not paying attention to what I just said? What makes you think that he won't be able to kill you guys if you try to interfere in any way?"

"Well, we'll just have to make sure that we don't let that happen." Carrie answered with a determined nod. "After all, psychic or not, there's only going to be one of him, and two of us. As long as we're working together, some magical lowlife won't have anything on us."

"She's right. We have the advantage of numbers on our side." Frederick said before looking at Jason. "...Come on, Jason. Turning our team of two into a team of three will better guarantee that we'll be able to make this happen… what do you say? You up for it, buddy?"

Jason stared at Frederick and Carrie quietly for the longest time, a million thoughts running through his head as he did so. On the one hand, he knew how dangerous this little mission was going to be, and he was in no mood of losing his life over something that he really had no part of. On the other hand, though, he couldn't just do nothing at all and let his friends get hurt. And it was clear that no matter how much he was trying to talk some sense into them, they were hellbent on trying to stop Magic Moe themselves.

After a few seconds of quiet thought, Jason gave a sigh of defeat, grumbling something about how he couldn't believe he was suddenly the smart one of the group before giving a nod. "...Alright. Fine. Count me in." he said. "But if we end up dying because of this stupid idea, I'm going to haunt both of you for the rest of your miserable afterlives. Capeesh?"

"Yeah. Whatever you say." Carrie said before leaning in and whispering to the two of them. "We'll meet at the university at 9 PM. That's the time when the store usually closes. It'll probably be roughly around that time when Magic Moe comes around. And when he does get in… we'll be ready for him."

After the three of them finished their meals and had their plans, they all went their separate ways for the remainder of time before they agreed to meet up. Jason had dropped Frederick off at the university, while he himself drove off to his own house to get himself ready for what was to come. He told his mother that he was going to Frederick's to hang out later at night, knowing that she wouldn't have been too thrilled about him trying to go up against one of the most infamous criminals in the entire town.

By the time 8 PM had hit, and he was getting himself ready to meet Carrie and Frederick, he was already thinking about how everything could go wrong, and how much trouble he was going to be in, whether or not he came out of this alive. He started to think about ways that he could possibly get himself out of this, but immediately got these thoughts out of his head, reminding himself that he was in this for his friends.

He left his house at around 8:15, deciding that he would give himself a little extra time, since it usually only takes him between thirty-five and forty minutes to get to the university. He wanted the extra time to try to calm his nerves and get better prepared for what he was about to do. He didn't bring too much with him. He brought his backpack, which still had his duel disk and his deck in there, but other than that and his wallet, the only other thing he brought was a bible, small enough to fit inside the pocket of his jeans. While he wasn't too keen on practicing any sort of religion most of the time, he figured that if things went really bad, he could at least take some time to pray like Hell before his life came to an end.

A few short minutes into his drive, he saw that he was driving past the Dark Alley of Nightmare. He always dreaded driving past that infamous place, especially during the night. He always feared the possibility of some crazy crook from in there making a dash for him. From what he heard, those that were real deep in there tended to rarely leave the alleyways, out of a possible fear of being arrested for their criminal ways of life outside. Despite this, he could never take any chances, and always wanted to get away from the alleyways as quickly as possible.

This time, however, when he saw some of the light of his headlights reflecting off something near the entrance of the alleyways, he took a look to see what it was. Upon seeing it, he quickly stopped his car and parked it right next to the object in question.

Once he got a better look at it, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was a motorbike. More specifically, it was Malcolm Alexson's bike. It sat there quietly, parked in there with nobody around it. Could it be that Malcolm was inside there? If so, what was he doing in such a horrible place like that?

While he was initially about to get back in his car as quickly as possible before somebody could come out and rob him, he began to have another thought. Malcolm was a tough guy, or at least he could talk a big talk when it came down to it… and his car was perfectly capable of holding one more member of the group after Frederick, Carrie and himself… maybe Malcolm would be willing to help them out?

Before he went running in there to look for him, however, he looked into the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare and reminded himself of just why it had the name and reputation that it did. There could have been hundreds upon thousands of crooks in there, just waiting for some poor, ignorant sucker to go in and test how brave they were, only to be robbed of all of his belongings and left with a broken finger or two, if they were lucky.

Along with that, he also remembered the article that Frederick had read him about a week ago, about some vigilante that was known as "Beelze" lurking in the alleyways and killing people in there… what if he were to run into him? What if Beelze decided that a glutton like Jason was worthy of killing right then and there? He did seem to like killing in methods involving the Seven Deadly Sins...

But with that, another thought hit him… what if Malcolm was forced in there by some of those crooks who stole his bike, and were doing something to him before they made his property their own? What if he was in trouble right at that very moment, and needed Jason's help?

"...I have got to be the biggest idiot in the entire world." Jason grumbled to himself as he took a deep breath in, exhaling slowly and slapping himself a couple of times before he began to slowly step foot into the Alleyway of Nightmare, his heart pounding and his hands becoming clammy as he was almost immediately blinded by the darkness. Very little of the pale moonlight was allowed through the large buildings that made the alleys.

While he got deeper and deeper into the alleyways, almost tip-toeing his way through, he began to silently call out for the one he was looking for. "Mal…? Mal? Are you in here…? If you're around here, say something…" He received no answer, much to his dismay, forcing him to explore deeper into the alleys.

As he slowly got deeper in, he finally began to see some people lying around. These ones didn't seem dangerous, however. Most of them just appeared to be homeless, sitting quietly against the walls of the alleyway and looking up enviously at Jason. They weren't fond of someone like him walking around in those parts.

He continued to go deeper and deeper, his footsteps coming slower and slower as he got deeper and deeper his fear increasing as he went on. He no longer could see the entrance that was now quite a ways behind him, let alone the vehicle that he had used to get there. More and more people were starting to become visible as he went deeper in. Many of them were covered in grime or filth, working on several illegal objects to try to sell. All of them glared at Jason, some of them menacingly brandishing a variety of weapons that they had as they continued to glare at him.

"M… Mal…? Are you here?" Jason called out again, his voice now more of a shaky whisper than anything. "I-if you are here, say something… come on, man… I don't like it here…"

"A little lost, are we?" came an old woman's voice as she walked up to Jason. She was dressed entirely in torn rags, and she stunk horribly of gunpowder and cigarette smoke. "What's such a young man doing in such an awful place like this?" She grinned, barely having a couple of teeth left in her mouth, her face full of wrinkles, almost to the point of appearing deformed.

Jason recoiled a little bit and took a step back, quaking in his boots and breathing hard, trying his very best to not sound afraid as he spoke. "W-well… I was l-looking for someone… saw his vehicle here, and thought maybe…" He looked back behind him, deciding that it was a good time to get out of there. "B-but I'm sure I was mistaken. After all, there are plenty of motorcycles in this town. I better get going now. Don't want to keep my mom waiting." he blurted out in a hurry as he turned around quickly, hoping to get out of there as soon as possible.

The woman, however, grabbed Jason's hand before he could get too far away and held him in place. "Nonsense, deary. You don't have to be shy." she spoke, her mouth open in whatever of a grin she could possibly make with the lack of teeth. "If it's someone you want to find in these parts, I'll be able to help you."

"Th-that's very kind of you… b-but I'm afraid I must decline. He's probably not here anyway." Jason said as he began to try to pull his hand away from the old lady's grip. No matter how hard he tried, however, his hand wouldn't budge. The woman was a lot stronger than she appeared.

The woman seemed to have completely ignored Jason as she went on speaking. "I know the perfect place for people trying to look for someone here… oh, a lovely place it is. Any person you need to find in these parts, you'll be able to find there… for the right price, of course."

Jason shuddered at the thought of what this "right price" could have been. He wasn't sure what it was she wanted from him, and he sure as heck didn't want to find out. "That's a very kind offer of yours… but as I said already, I have to get going, and I don't have a lot on me anyway. So… if you would please be… so kind as to… let… me… go!" he shouted as he finally was able to free his hand from the grip of the woman, though whether he just managed to fight it out of there, or if she had willingly let go of him, he wasn't very sure.

The woman simply kept grinning as she began to walk towards Jason, the young man gulping as he backed away from her slowly. "Don't be afraid, my friend… I insist." she answered as she just kept walking towards him. Jason wanted to make a run from it, but for all he knew, once he started trying to run for it, there would be a bunch of thugs hot on his tail, or even cutting him off before he could make an escape. He had the sinking feeling that he was trapped, and that it was going to take a miracle to make it out of there alive.

Just when he was ready to take his chances and run for it, he jumped and gave a little yelp as he felt a strong hand suddenly grab him by the shoulder from behind. He stood silently, not saying a word as he waited for either the woman in front of him or whoever was behind him to say something, awaiting to hear his fate.

The relief he felt when he heard that familiar strong voice was nearly overwhelming. "Sorry to say… but he's with me. I'll be taking him from here."

The woman's smile quickly turned to one of disappointment and anger in response to what was said. Whatever she had in mind for Jason, she wasn't too thrilled about it being interrupted like that. She clearly wanted to say something, even opening her mouth and taking a breath in to do so, but stopped herself and looked over behind her own shoulder, as if looking towards something to find out what to do.

After a few seconds of apparent thought, the woman silently turned around and walked slowly back into the depths of the Alleyway. Meanwhile, Jason was turned around by the man behind him, who kept behind him after he was turned around, and began to slowly walk him towards the exit. "Come on… you don't want to be staying this deep for too much longer."

As they walked over there, Jason began to notice that, as they were leaving, nobody in the Alleyway was trying to stop them. They would sometimes glare at him, just as they did when he was entering, but upon seeing who was walking with him, they immediately looked away, and went right back to what he was doing.

He didn't have much time to think about that, however, as he began to speak on the way out. "Hoh, man. You came just in the knick of time. I thought that I was screwed for a minute there, but you really came through for me."

Jason continued to talk on and on as they continued to walk, the person who had just saved him not really responding much, aside from the occasional "Yeah?" and "Uh-huh", making the conversation much more one sided than Jason thought it was.

Once the exit and the vehicles left at it were in view, however, and there was nobody else in sight, Jason was grabbed hard by the shoulder, and pinned to the wall, the overweight man getting the wind knocked out of him as his back slammed into the wall, looking up at a very, very annoyed Malcolm. "What are you doing here?!" he demanded in a harsh growl. "Don't you know better than to come wandering out in these parts, especially when you're alone?!"

"I could be asking you the exact same thing." Jason responded, breathing hard, quite shocked at the sudden change of composure from Malcolm. "I come here after seeing your motorcycle parked out here, thinking you were in some kind of danger, and here you are, walking around like you own this place?!" As he continued to breathe, not getting a response from Malcolm yet, he began to sniff as the scent of Malcolm's breath was hitting his nose. "...Have you been drinking tonight?"

Even more annoyed now, Malcolm spun Jason around again, this time pinning his head against the wall with his right hand, while his left one grabbed Jason's hands by the wrists and held them behind his back. "Hey, hey! Ow ow ow ow ow! Not flexible! Not flexible!" Jason began to blubber out. "Mal, come on! I'm here because I need your help!"

Malcolm eased his grip a little bit upon Jason saying that. He only held him there for a few short seconds before sighing and pulling Jason back away from the wall, shoving him away just enough so that the two of them could get a good look at each other. "...Alright. What do you want? Make it quick." Malcolm ordered as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall that Jason was just held against.

"Sheesh… you're more bite than everyone gave you credit for." Jason muttered as he shook the pain out of his arms before he spoke to Malcolm. "Alright… here's the deal. You know that small card shop that's just a few minutes away from the university?"

"Heard about it on campus. Never really went there myself." Malcolm answered before looking at Jason with a little raise of the eyebrow. "...What are you up to at this time of night? You looking to rob that store, or something?"

"N-no… no… actually, I was more planning to stop a robbery from going on there." Jason answered. "...See, supposedly there's a planned heist going on there on this very night… I want to help stop that from happening, so the shop can stay in business, but… I'm not really that confident in the chances of doing so… I was just on my way over there when I saw your motorcycle parked outside, and thought you might be able to help as well."

Malcolm quietly stared at Jason, taking a few moments to absorb what he had just heard before speaking again. "...Right… and why exactly is it your business whether or not that shop gets robbed? That's the police's job to keep that from happening, not yours."

"I know! That's exactly what I told Carrie and Frederick! I told them, 'We're just college students. We have no business in stepping in and doing the officers' work for them.' But no matter how many times I try to talk some sense into them-"

"Oh… so you've got the whole trifecta of numbskulls trying to play superhero, huh?" Malcolm scoffed as he rolled his eyes a little bit. Jason just stayed silent before he spoke again. "...How exactly do you know that there's a robbery taking place there anyway? And what makes you think that it'll happen tonight?"

"Well..." Jason began to answer. "Whoever's pulling this off left a note talking about how they're going to rob it tonight. I think they said his name was… 'Magic Moe', or something like that."

"Magic Moe?" Malcolm repeated, his head perking up a little bit and his composure straightening up out of interest. "I've heard that name before… several of the criminals in these parts look up to him for all the heists he's been able to pull. Some practically revere him as a god among thieves who can't be touched." Jason's head tilted in confusion upon Malcolm saying that. The taller man seemed to already know what he was thinking, and said, "You're better off not asking how I know that."

"Well… if you know about him, then you can help us out for sure." Jason said. "I know this whole 'doing something good for others' thing probably ain't exactly up your alley… but we could really use all the help we can get… will you help us, Malcolm?"

Malcolm was silent for a few seconds, having to seriously consider what Jason was asking. He had absolutely no loyalty to Jason or any of his friends, nor did he really care what happened to that card store. It could have everything but the front desk smashed and stolen for all he cared. But at the same time, he couldn't deny that he would take some pride in taking down one of the most infamous criminals of all time…

"...Fine." Malcolm said simply as he uncrossed his arms and held his index finger up. "I'll help you, but on one condition… a week from now, you and I have a rematch, after all of our classes. Our prides will be the only things on the line this time."

"A duel?" Jason questioned. At first, he was confused about why Malcolm would only ask for a duel, but then he remembered something that Malcolm had mentioned last Friday. Almost a week had passed since then, leaving Malcolm with just over two weeks left to get a duel with him. Why he was on that timer, Jason still didn't know…

"Alright… you have yourself a deal." Jason said as he nodded. "We're meeting up at the university in a few minutes… hopefully they won't mind me being a little bit later than we agreed on."

With the somewhat unsteady alliance in play, Jason and Malcolm both entered in Jason's car, and Jason continued his car ride to the university. At first, the ride was in complete silence. While Jason would usually have no problems in trying to strike a conversation with someone like Frederick, with someone like Malcolm, he wasn't really sure how to start something. He wanted to ask why Malcolm was in such a hurry to get that duel, and why he was in the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare to begin with, but such topics would probably result in Malcolm not telling him anything. Not to mention, he was still trying to calm his nerves after what happened earlier...

"So… bring me up to speed with what all is going down." Malcolm said as he crossed his arms, finally breaking the silence.

"Well… all of the alarms and security cameras have been set up around the card shop… the place seems to be locked down pretty tight. But as you've probably heard, Magic Moe has some sort of ability in slipping in without any alarms going off, or any footage getting taken of him."

"Indeed… so the puzzle lies in just how he's able to do so." Malcolm spoke, mostly to himself as he scratched his chin in thought. "And all of this stuff was just set today, you said?" Jason nodded in confirmation. "...Fascinating…" From the sounds of it, Malcolm may have already been thinking of something. Jason waited for at least a hint of what he was thinking, but not another word was said until after they arrived at the meeting place.

Frederick and Carrie didn't seem too thrilled about Jason being late, even if it was only by a few minutes, but were even more unhappy to see that Jason had gotten Malcolm to tag along as well. Neither of them were very open to working with him, though Carrie was much more vocal about it than Frederick was.

Nevertheless, after they all confirmed that they had everything they needed, Frederick and Carrie got in the back seat, and Jason began to drive slowly to their destination.

"Alright… now that we got the rest of the chumps in here…" Malcolm began to say. "How are we gonna catch this rat?"

There was silence from everyone else in the car. Jason looked at his rearview mirror to the other two, waiting for some kind of answer as well, but neither of the two were in any hurry to answer.

"...You know, the most important part of being in a team is communication. So let me try this one more time." Malcolm spoke. "How do you plan on stopping Magic Moe tonight?"

"Well… we…" Frederick started to say before grimacing and looking to the side. "...We… don't really have an actual plan."

Malcolm was silent for a few seconds. He took a deep breath in and brought his hands to the sides of his head, rubbing his temples with his fingers, trying to process the words he had just heard. "...Let me get this straight. You're going to try to stop one of the most infamous thieves in this entire city… and you're just hoping that everything is gonna be all honkey-dorey?"

"Hey, give us a break." Carrie snapped back. "We only figured out that this was going on today. We barely had any time to come up with anything."

"See? What did I tell you?" Jason said to Malcolm. "They really haven't thought of any of this before making the decision."

"Oh, now you're going to be siding with Malcolm on this one?" Carrie barked out.

"The day where I can actually talk to Jason as the most reasonable one among you might as well be the end of all time." Malcolm spoke in a very stern voice, getting everyone to quiet down once again. "...You pheasants are lucky that Jason actually brought me around… otherwise the three of you would probably cave your own heads in on the wall long before Moe got here."

"Oh, yeah? So what you're saying is that you got a plan?" Carrie spoke. "Well, by all means, Mr. Smartass, feel free to share it with the rest of us."

Malcolm gave a little smirk and shook his head. "I'll let you know as soon as I get a good feel of the place. You probably haven't even looked to see what we and Moe have to work with here."

Silence fell for the rest of the short ride, but given the clear hostility there was between Carrie and Malcolm, Jason certainly wasn't complaining about that. Once they parked in the parking lot, Malcolm took some time to walk around and observe everything about the place, paying especially close attention to the cameras and the alarms. None of them took their phones with them, out of fear that if they did, Moe would be able to notice them if they went off for any reason.

Once he was finished, he called everyone to gather up to share what he observed, getting everyone near the front door, just underneath one of the cameras. "The place has several different waypoints to enter from. Of course, given how obvious and heavily secured it seems to be, the front door is pretty much ruled out… the most likely candidates for a possible entry point are the roof, the back door, and a window on the left side."

"If he manages to get in the building, we would certainly know it right away." Jason commented. "There's no way anyone can sneak in without triggering one of those alarms."

"If he's done it many times before, what's to say he's not going to do it again?" Frederick asked. "If what we've heard about him is true, then we might not even know he's in the building once he's entered it."

"Which is why we need to catch him before he enters the building, when he's still trying to find the best way in." Malcolm said. "We split up. Jason, I want you to cover the window. Frederick, Carrie, you both keep watch of the back exit. I'll be making sure the roof remains clear. I want nobody leaving their posts. One second of not being around could be the difference between catching this guy and him getting away with those precious cards. Everyone got that?"

"You better not be trying to pull anything funny, Malcolm." Carrie said. "One little sign that something's amiss, and I'll be sure you won't be able to sit down for a week."

"Yeah, sure. Just make sure that fat mouth of yours can shout out to us if you find him. At least it'll have some use then." Malcolm countered. Carrie almost lost it, and would have attacked Malcolm right then and there had Frederick not managed to hold her back. Once the tensions somewhat died down, all of them went to their appropriate places. Malcolm took one more look at the cameras that they were just under before he went to his position.

As Jason got into his position, standing near the window that he was assigned to, he could see why Malcolm would assume that could be one of the entry points. There didn't seem to be any outside cameras to speak of. They must have assumed that, with the window being so high up, Moe wouldn't have been able to get there, an assumption that could be easily negated by a ladder. He guessed that was a testament to just how competent the police force of the city really was…

He wasn't sure how much time had really passed as he stood there, doing nothing. It could have been half an hour, or it could have been a couple of hours for all he knew, but there was no sign of Magic Moe, nor were any of the others shouting about his appearance. He tried his best to keep vigilant in his task, reminding himself that Malcolm specifically told him to stay in place, but as time continued to crawl on, he was quickly beginning to lose his patience.

After more time had passed, Jason dying to go back for his phone to find out how much time he had wasted there, he began to think that maybe that letter was just a joke. Could have been someone pulling a prank, seeing how much panic they could cause. Or if this Magic Moe really did have psychic powers, he probably already knew they were waiting for him, and was waiting until they left before he made his move.

He began to envy Frederick and Carrie right now. Since they were at the same position together, they could have been doing anything right now. They could have been talking, or maybe even playing a game while they waited. But Jason was stuck there alone.

His frustration reaching its peak after what seemed to be another eternity of nothing happening, he finally gave up, and began to move out of his position. He wanted to find Malcolm and tell him that he didn't think Moe was coming after all, and that they were wasting their time there.

As he was walking around the building, walking past the front door, he came to a stop as he noticed something. He looked into the front window and noticed, just barely in the darkness, that one of the shelves was just about completely empty. That didn't make any sense to him. He could have sworn that all the shelves had at least a couple of booster packs or deck boxes when they first arrived.

Unless…

His eyes turning to one of the display cases with some of the rare cards, he was shocked to see that there was somebody in there. Nearly completely masked by the darkness, Jason could still make out the bag he carried, which he used to slip in the cards that he was taking from the display case, and the cape he wore. It was him. It was Magic Moe!

Jason began to panic a little bit. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He couldn't confront Moe on his own. He could have been armed for all that he knew, but he didn't want to take his eyes off of him either. He dreaded to think what this guy could possibly do in however much time it took to get the others.

Deciding that the best course of action would be to try to trigger the alarms and notify the police, he looked around and found a rock that looked just big enough that it would be able to shatter the glass if he threw it hard enough. He took the rock and held it in his hand, his heart racing and his breathing fast and loud as he prepared to do the unthinkable.

Almost as if it was hearing Jason, one of the security cameras slowly turned itself from its idle position and looked at him. Just a moment or two later, Moe put his hand over his ear, as if hearing something. In a second or two after, his head jolted a bit in surprise, and he looked to the window in shock, just before Jason gave a yell, and threw the rock straight at the window.

The rock completely decimated the window as it went through, the glass shattering loudly and spilling all over the floor in shards of many different sizes and shapes. The robber covered his face with his arm and slightly ducked behind his bag in response to the window breaking.

With the glass shattered, both the robber and Jason stood there for a little bit, staring at each other in shock. Jason couldn't believe the silence he was hearing. Despite the window completely shattering, the alarms still weren't triggered at all.

Giving a little growl of frustration that he was caught, and not wanting to wait around for other people to come around, Magic Moe turned around and began to sprint towards the back with his bag at hand. "Hey! Get back here!" Jason shouted as he ran in through the door and began to chase the robber. The front door was completely unlocked. That must have been how he got in.

Jason chased the robber to the backdoor, where he burst through and kept running, Frederick and Carrie too shocked to react at first until Jason came running out as well. "Stop him! It's Magic Moe! He got in through the front!" he shouted to them. Upon hearing this, Frederick and Carrie immediately joined in on the chase, running behind Jason, hot on the tail of the robber.

They kept chasing him straight forward as they got further and further away from town, eventually starting to make their way into a park a couple blocks away from the university. It was unclear whether he was trying to get somewhere, or if he was just running anywhere to try to lose them. That wasn't any real concern of theirs, as they were intent on getting Moe right then and there.

Things seemed like they were about to take a turn for the worst, however, as Jason began to slow down, his breathing becoming heavier and heavier as he tried to force himself on. His poor physical condition was quickly starting to catch up to him, and he was starting to run out of energy.

"Don't give up now! Keep up!" Frederick said as he and Carrie both took one of Jason's arms and tried to help him run, but it wasn't doing much good. He was slowing down more and more, and it was slowing the other two down even further.

"Come on, Jason! If you give up now, Magic Moe will get away!" Carrie insisted as they watched Moe starting to get farther and farther away. It would only take a few more seconds before he would completely outrun his chasers, and get away with yet another crime.

Just as it seemed like he was about to escape, however, as he ran past the tall sign at the entrance of the park, a pair of hands suddenly shot out from behind the sign, grabbing Moe by the shirt. He was too shocked to do anything to resist, and before he knew it, he was suddenly lifted up into the air, and slammed hard into the ground on his back. Moe gave a sharp yell of pain before he slowly turned around on his stomach, groaning and growling at the pain he was now in.

Jason, Frederick and Carrie all came to a stop as they finally caught up, looking in surprise as Magic Moe laid on the ground, writhing in pain. The next thing they knew, Malcolm walked out from behind the sign, dusting his hands off against each other after stopping the thief in his tracks. "It's curtains for you, Magic Moe." he said in a low voice.

"Malcolm…" Jason panted as he and the other two went up to him, Jason almost collapsing onto the ground as he breathed hoarsely, trying to catch his breath. Underneath the light of a couple of streetlights, they were able to make out more of the caught thief's features. He had dark blue hair and wore a purple cape, along with almost completely black clothes.

"I thought you said you were going to watch the roof!" Carrie shouted. "What the Hell are you doing here?!"

"You also said that he wasn't likely going to enter the front door with how secure it was!" Frederick added in.

"That's right. I did say both of those things." Malcolm answered as he crossed his arms. "And they were exactly what I wanted Moe to hear."

"'Wanted Moe to hear'? What are you talking about?" Frederick asked. "You mean to tell me that Moe was listening in on us the whole time?"

"Of course. Neither of you picked up on it yet?" Malcolm asked. "When Jason explained to me how the police were setting up so many security measures in response to the letter, I began to wonder just why he would go to that bother. It made no sense to alert the cops of his plans and up the security of his planned target… unless he had some specific reason for doing so. And after what happened here, it seems that my little theory was correct."

Carrie's eyes began to fill with shock as what Malcolm was saying finally began to dawn on all of them. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"That's right. Moe isn't just sending these letters as boasts." Malcolm explained. "His 'psychic powers' are really just him using the security measures to his advantage. It's simple, but pretty genius when you think about it. By taking control of them, he's able to see and hear whatever he wants to, while making sure the ones that set them up only see and hear what he wants them to. And in doing so, he's able to do his heists without anybody ever being able to catch him."

Carrie and Frederick look at each other, then back to Moe in shock. As Jason caught his breath and stood back up straight, his eyes widened in realization. "...That's why none of the alarms went off." he started. "When I threw that rock and broke the window… he had already shut down the alarms before going in."

Malcolm gave a nod. "That's why I said that the front door was the least likely to be the entry point. If he knew we wouldn't be watching it, he would use it to make sure he got in without being noticed." He looked at Jason and went on. "That's also why I put you alone at the window. With almost no cameras there, he wouldn't be able to see or hear you over there, and I knew that out of the three of you, you wouldn't be smart enough to do what you were told. You would chase him straight here, and I would be waiting to take him out, since he wouldn't see me here."

Jason wasn't sure how to take that, as congratulations for catching Moe in the act, or as an insult. "...Happy to be of assistance, I guess…?" he said, just glad that they were able to stop Moe before he could rob everything from that store.

"...Hold on a minute. Something still doesn't add up." Carrie started. "So he's been using the security cameras and the alarms to make sure that he gets away with these crimes with no evidence of who he is. Fine… but the security cameras and the alarms were only set up earlier today. That means that he would have to take control of everything in only a few hours. That's way too much for one person to do on their own."

"Who said he was working alone?" Malcolm questioned as he pointed to Moe's right ear. Lo and behold, in that ear was an earpiece, hidden away from normal view, and flashing on and off with a little blue light. "Magic shows very rarely happen with only the magician, after all. There's almost always an assistant, giving the magician what he needs to do his tricks."

After saying that, Malcolm slowly bent his knees, lowering himself down closer to the robber, who was still laying on the ground, but at this point, had gone silent. "So tell me, Moe… who's in your little stage crew?"

Moe remained silent for a few seconds before he began to laugh quietly. His hands tightened into fists as he slowly lifted himself up, just enough to look at Malcolm in the eyes. "I must say, I'm quite impressed that you managed to figure it out. You're much more competent than all of the others we've managed to fool, despite your young age."

Malcolm simply gave a proud smirk and responded with, "I guess you can say that I've had plenty of experience for figuring slimey crooks like you out."

"Indeed… but I'm afraid there's one little flaw to your plan." Moe simply said as he reached into his pocket, standing up slowly as he did. "You may have discovered the secret to my success… but that's not going to help. Because we have something far beyond the power of psychic abilities."

He quickly took a smoke pellet out from his pocket and threw it to the ground, causing a large cloud of smoke to form from where he threw it. The other four quickly stepped back, closing their eyes and coughing from whatever smoke they breathed in.

When they looked back and the smoke cleared, they found Magic Moe, standing now with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. Only this time, he wasn't alone. Standing right next to him, also smirking and crossing his arms, was another man, his skin much darker than Moe's and his hair a dark red, but wearing the same cape and clothes as Moe.

"So what if we didn't use actual psychic powers to do our heists? That doesn't matter when we work together." Moe said.

The other man picked up where Moe left off, saying, "Because our teamwork makes a force unlike any other."

They both uncrossed their arms and put an arm around each other's shoulders as they introduced themselves. "The Psyche Brothers! Magic Moe and Magic Joe!"

Jason gave a little grimace at the thought of there being two of them, but gave a little bit of a scoff as he immediately caught on to the gimmick behind their names. "'Mojo', huh? I see you two like your puns, if nothing else."

"Don't mistake our naming conventions for a mere laughing matter." Joe said. "Together with my brother, we make an unstoppable team."

"Give it up, you two. It's over." Carrie said. "You've been caught, and the jig is up. By now, the police are aware of you striking the shop, and will be here any moment to capture you both. You're not getting out of this one."

"Uh-uh-uh. Have you forgotten so quickly what the fat one has discovered?" Moe intervened with a little wagging of his finger. "The alarms were shut down, and didn't go off, even when he shattered the window and forced me to retreat. Without the alarm going off, while we still control the cameras, the police are completely unaware that we broke into our target."

"They're right." Frederick said with a little growl. "They won't be able to know what's going on right now… damn it! If they would just put an actual person to watch over the store, this crap wouldn't happen!"

"And you four won't be able to hold us long enough for them to arrive here." Moe said before giving a grin. "But my brother and I are not completely without honor, especially to those who prove themselves capable."

"And judging by how you knew we were coming, you're no doubt duelists, are you not?" Joe asked. "As a reward for figuring our trick out and momentarily halting our plans, we'll give you a fighting chance."

Both of them took duel disks out from in their capes, Moe having a white duel disk that glowed with blue neon lights, while Joe had a black duel disk that glowed with red neon lights. They both spoke in unison once again. "A tag duel against the both of us!"

"A tag duel?" Jason questioned. "I've never heard of a tag duel before."

"Allow us to fill you in on all of the rules then." Joe said, before he and Moe began to explain the rules, altering between who spoke as they did.

"A tag duel takes place between two teams of two duelists."

"Each duelist uses their own Decks and Hands, but both duelists in a team share the same Graveyard, Field, and a starting Life Point value of 16000."

"Duelists are not allowed to use the cards in their partner's hands, nor can they use any of the cards in their partner's Deck or Extra Deck."

"However, they may use any of their partner's cards on the Field and in the Graveyard as if they were their own."

"If you win, you may call your precious police and have them arrest us, if you so choose."

"But if we win, we get to go free with all that we've stolen, and you four will pay the price for trying to stop us."

All four of them were stunned by the synergy these two had in their speech alone. They've clearly had plenty of time to practice all of this, and more than likely practiced their team strategies just as well.

"We're not afraid of you. If it means taking you down tonight, then you better be prepared for a thrashing." Jason said as he began to unzip his bookbag. "You and me, Frederick. Let's take these freaks down once and for all."

"Hold it right there." Moe interjected. "We have one more condition for this duel."

"My brother and I each get to pick who will make up our opposing team." Joe continued.

"You've gotta be kidding!" Frederick objected. "That's not fair! Why should you get to decide who you're going to fight?!"

"I don't think that's going to matter too much, Fred." Carrie replied. "Don't forget, they don't know anything about us either. It won't matter who they decide to duel. Neither of us will have any unfair advantages." Jason nodded in agreement, while Malcolm remained silent. Somehow, he had a strong feeling that what Carrie just said wasn't true.

"In that case, we shall pick our opponents now." Joe started as he pointed to Carrie. "My pick shall be the girl."

"And for my pick…" Moe started, looking at the three and choosing carefully before pointing to Frederick. "You shall be my pick."

"M-me?" Frederick stammered before giving a little gulp. "Guys, this wasn't part of the plan."

"Well, plans change. And we gotta be prepared for them." Carrie said as she took her duel disk and her deck out. "Besides, take a look at them. They don't stand a chance."

Frederick gave a little sigh. It seems like he didn't have much of a choice anymore. Reluctantly, he took his own duel disk and Deck out of his backpack and got them ready. Knowing how nervous Frederick was, Jason put his hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't be too tense, Freddy. Just remember everything that we worked on these past few days, and you'll do just fine."

"This isn't exactly dueling just for fun anymore, Jason…" Frederick muttered under his breath. This duel was going to decide whether or not the two thieves went free. And depending on what they meant by the four of them paying, their very lives could be at stake.

Both Moe and Joe took their own Decks out and inserted them into their duel disks, as Carrie and Frederick did the same thing, activating their duel disks. "If we finish this quick enough, my brother, we'll be able to return back to the store and finish what we started before dawn."

"The only place that you'll be going is a prison cell!" Carrie replied.

"We'll see about that." Moe said as he held his hand out. "Go ahead and decide which of you will go first. We'll let you have the first turn this time."

Carrie gave a little growl before looking at Frederick as all of them drew their first five cards. "Go ahead and make your move, Fred. I'll follow your lead."

"Alright…" Frederick answered as he tried to calm himself down, looking at his hand. He didn't exactly have any explosive plays to start out with, but he would at least be able to set up some defense. "I'll just set one Monster face-down, and I'll end my turn."

"That's all you're going to do?" Carrie asked with a scoff. "Come on, Fred. We can't afford to pull any of our punches against these two."

"Looks like this is going to be easier than I thought." Joe said as he drew his first card and looked at his hand. "I'll set the stage for my brother by setting two cards face-down in my Spell and Trap Zone, and one Monster face-down on the Field. That'll be my turn."

Frederick gave a little sigh of relief. While he wasn't able to do much in his turn, it looks like Joe wasn't either. "Be careful, Carrie… we don't know what these two might be planning."

"Relax, Freddie. I'll be taking care of these goons. Watch how it's done. My move!" Carrie drew her card and looked at it, giving a confident smirk as she did. "Looks like this duel is already over, just as soon as it started. I Summon my Monster Cheerleader Captain to the Field!" Carrie placed the card down onto her duel disk, and the Monster Cheerleader Captain appeared, leaping up and spinning in the air before landing on her feet perfectly, winking at her opponents as she brought her arms up in the shape of a V as her stats showed.

"Monster Cheerleader Captain… I remember that card!" Jason exclaimed quietly as he and Malcolm watched on. "That was the Monster that led to Fred getting crushed by her back in the buffet."

"Now that my Monster Cheerleader Captain has been Normal Summoned, her effect activates. She allows me to discard up to three cards in my Hand, and for every card I discard this way, I can Special Summon a Monster Cheerleader from my Deck." She took two cards from her hand and slipped them into her Graveyard, leaving her with only three. "I'll be discarding these two cards! Now come and take the stage, my Monster Cheerleaders-"

"Stop right there!" Joe suddenly interrupted. "Since you've now paid the cost of your Monster's effect, I think now's a good time for me to activate my Trap Card!"

"What?! A Trap Card?!" Carrie exclaimed in shock, stopping right where she was.

"That's right, but not just any Trap Card! A very special Counter Trap Card!" Joe answered as he flipped one of his face-down cards up. "Go! Solemn Eternity!"

"A Solemn card?! Uh-oh." Jason exclaimed. Seeing one of those cards activated was never a good thing.

Dark clouds began to come crawling above Monster Cheerleader Captain, red lightning flashing and a deep rumbling booming throughout the air. The usually peppy and energetic Warrior-Type Monster began to shiver, her eyes wide and her lips trembling in fear. "My Solemn Eternity can only be activated when you attempt to summon a Monster, or activate any card effect. By paying Life Points until we have only 1000 remaining, we can negate the summon or activation of that card and destroy it."

"Only 1000 Life Points remaining?!" Frederick exclaimed in surprise. That was a very steep cost for getting rid of just one card this early on, but it was true. As the Psyche Brothers' Life Points dropped from 16000 to just 1000 in a blink of an eye, the lightning began to strike at Monster Cheerleader Captain, who shrieked out in pain and with a tear or two escaping her eyes before the hologram of her completely shattered.

Carrie gave an angry growl, her fist tightening a bit as she looked at the Psyche Brothers. "Fine then. I hope that stopping just one effect of mine was worth paying 15000 Life Points."

"I have only the utmost confidence in my brother to have spent those Life Points wisely." Moe replied. "Especially since I know about a little extra bonus of our Solemn Eternity card."

"An effect that puts the 'eternity' in its name." Joe continued on. "Whenever a card's summon or effect is negated, and that card is destroyed, by our Solemn Eternity Trap Card, that card, and all cards with the same name as it, can't be summoned or have their effects activated for the rest of the duel."

"WHAT?!" Carrie exclaimed, her entire face going pale and her eyes widening in horror as she heard that, looking down at the cards in her hand.

"Well, that's not fair!" Jason yelled. "Getting to stop a card from being used for the rest of the duel just with one Trap Card!"

"And absolutely devastating to Carrie to boot." Malcolm included as he watched on. Carrie looked like she had just seen a ghost. None of the boys had ever seen her so shocked and terrified in their lives.

"Judging by the look on your face, it appears that you have nothing more that you can do." Joe said confidently. "Then I suppose it's my brother's turn. But before he takes his turn, I have another gift to give him, in the form of my other face-down Trap Card." He took his other face-down card and flipped it face-up. "The Continuous Trap Card, Solemn Wishes."

"How very generous of you, my brother." Moe responded with a smirk. "Starting on my turn, each time we draw a card, we'll be recovering 500 Life Points. And now, it's my move. I draw a card, and I'll gain 500 Life Points thanks to my brother's Solemn Wishes. It may not be 15000 just yet, but it'll surely help in making up what we lost."

"Just make your move." Carrie growled in a low voice, trying to sound as calm as possible despite the circumstances.

"With pleasure." Moe said. "First things first, if you would please, Joe, I shall be Flip Summoning the Monster you put face-down during your turn. I have a feeling I'm already aware of just who it is."

"Indeed, you are right, my brother." Joe responded as the Monster on the Field was Flip Summoned. A gypsy woman with a crystal ball appeared, and her stats showed that she was a Level 1 DARK Psychic-Type with only 100 ATK and 500 DEF. "It's my Psychic Seer."

"Perfect. Then for my Monster this turn, I'll be Summoning my Psychic Warrior in Attack Mode." He put the card on his duel disk, and a man appeared with dirty brown hair, his skin well tanned and he only wore a pair of brown pants. He held a sword in hand with a red jewel at the bottom. His stats showed him to be a Level 4 LIGHT Psychic-Type with 2000 ATK and 100 DEF. "With an Attack this high, I foresee that whatever you have on your side of the Field won't have the Defense to survive this attack. Attack, my Psychic Warrior!"

The Psychic Warrior charged forward, his sword tightly held in both hands as his sword glowed with a powerful light as it slashed at Frederick's face-down Monster. "And just like that, your precious defenses are torn down."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Frederick said. "Because the Monster that you just tried to attack was none other than Jack the Creep in a Box!" The Monster appeared as a wind-up box, with a creepy doll popping up for it, giving a wicked laugh as its stats showed. It was a Level 3 DARK Fiend-Type with 1000 ATK and 1500 DEF.

"Your little toy only has a Defense of 1500. It's not enough to withstand the power of our Psychic Warrior."

"Not on its own, but that's where Jack's special ability comes into play." Frederick said. "My Jack the Creep in a Box's special ability protects from being destroyed by battle once every turn. In order to destroy my Monster, you're going to have to attack it twice. And with the middling Attack of your other Monster, you won't be destroying our defenses this turn."

"Hmph. Only a minor setback." Moe said as he placed one card face-down. "I set one card and end my turn."

"Then I guess it's my turn next." Frederick said as he drew his card.

"Freddie… I'm put at a bit of a disadvantage here now." Carrie reminded him. "If you're going to step up at all during this duel, now would be a good time."

"I know. I'm working on it." Frederick said as he looked at the card he just drew and looked back to the Field. "Unfortunately for you and your brother, Moe, you've made a huge mistake in your last turn, and now I'm going to capitalize on it. I summon my Figure Demolitions Man in Attack Mode!" He placed the Monster on his duel disk, and out came a large toy green soldier that looked similar to the Figure Infantry Man, but this one carried a green plastic bazooka instead of the machine gun. Its stats showed it to be a Level 4 FIRE Warrior-Type with 1900 ATK and 600 DEF.

"You left your Psychic Seer out in Attack mode while it only has 100 Attack Points. With the Life Points you have left, one attack is all I need to end this duel here and now."

"Moe and Joe only have 1500 Life Points left, thanks to their Solemn Eternity." Jason confirmed. "If this attack goes through, he can end this duel here and now!"

"If this attack goes through is the key." Malcolm reminded as he stood watch. He was certain that Moe and Joe wouldn't leave their Monster with only 100 ATK out on the Field unless they had something planned.

"Now, go Figure Demolitions Man! Wipe out his Psychic Seer and the rest of their Life Points!" The toy soldier took aim for the Psychic Seer and pulled the trigger, launching a plastic green rocket at the Monster.

"He thinks my Psychic Seer is defenseless, does he?" Joe questioned. "What say you, my brother?"

"Fear not, Joe. For your Seer is quite safe with my Psychic Warrior around." Moe replied. "Reveal my Continuous Spell Card! Power Through Unity!"

"He can't activate a Continuous Spell during Fred's turn!" Jason shouted.

"Oh, I'm afraid he can. And it's all thanks to my Psychic Seer." Joe corrected. "Thanks to her own special ability. She allows us to activate any of our set Spell Cards during our opponent's turn, as if they were Quick-Play Spells."

"And this particular Spell Card's effect activates when you declare an attack on one of our Monsters while we control more than one." Moe went on. "The first thing this Spell does is double the current ATK and DEF of one of our Monsters, except for the Monster that's being chosen as the attack target. And since my Psychic Warrior is the only other Monster out on the Field, it's the only Monster that we can use this on." The Psychic Seer began to glow brightly as his ATK went up to 4000, and his DEF went up to 200.

"After it doubles the Points of our other Monster, it shares them with the attack target, averaging both of their point values so that they're equal. This effect only lasts until the end of the Damage Step, but that's more than enough time. With my Psychic Seer's current ATK of 100, and Psychic Warrior's current ATK of 4000, both of them split it up into an equal 2050."

The glowing from the Psychic Warrior began to flow over to the Psychic Seer, and both Monsters' ATKs became 2050, while their DEFs became 350. "That means Psychic Seer is now stronger than my Figure Demolitions Man!" Frederick exclaimed.

"That's exactly what it means." Moe confirmed. "Go, Psychic Seer! Counter attack!" The Psychic Monster, with the newfound power shared by Psychic Warrior, used its psychic powers to stop the rocket in the air, turning it around and instead hitting the Figure Demolitions Man, destroying him, and taking Carrie and Frederick's Life Points down to 15850.

"This is ridiculous." Jason said in shock. "Carrie and Frederick have such a large Life Point advantage over these two, but every single move they've attempted to make, they're able to stop and counter like it's nothing!"

"Now you're beginning to see just how powerful our teamwork really is." Moe said. "Any strategy or move that you may try to make, we'll be able to instantly put a stop to. It doesn't matter how many Life Points you have over us, because in the end, you're going to lose every single one of them!"

Carrie and Frederick both growled as they heard that. "As soon as we beat you both, all of the cards in that shop will be ours, and we'll be free to continue our thieving ways!" Both brothers laughed in unison. It seemed like what it was they were saying may just come to pass. With such skills in working together, and Carrie and Frederick having never worked as a team like this before, how were they supposed to overcome these two?


	6. A Foretold Crime Pt 2

Things didn't seem too bad for Frederick and Carrie based on Life Point value alone. In fact, just in five short turns, Carrie and Frederick had a Life Point lead of over 13000 Life Points over the Psyche Brothers, Magic Moe and Magic Joe. To anyone just walking in, it would appear that the two college students had a massive advantage over the two criminal brothers.

However, upon further inspection, one would see that it was the brothers who really had the advantage. Any attempted move Frederick or Carrie tried to make was immediately shot down by the two brothers. However many years of training and practicing together had given them a keen ability of dealing with whatever their opponents would try to throw at them.

"Since your turn proved fruitless, it's my turn now. I draw!" Joe yelled as he took the top card of his Deck. "And let's not forget the effect of my Solemn Wishes, bringing us another 500 Life Points, and 500 Life Points closer to achieving our ultimate wish of victory." He looked back at his hand, humming a little bit at his options before looking back to the Monster on Carrie and Frederick's side of the Field.

"Hmmmm… for now, your toy protects you and your Life Points from any further harm, but that won't be the case for long." he said as he put a card face-down in his Spell/Trap Zone. "For now, I need no further monsters than the ones already on our Field, but I shall leave this here, for my brother's use. It's your move, young lady."

Carrie gave a growl and drew her next card, looking at it for the longest time. Silence took hold of the entire area. Everyone held their breaths in anticipation for what Carrie was going to do for her next move.

After a few seconds of soul shattering silence, Carrie did something none of her partners in stopping crime could have imagined she would do.

"...There's nothing I can do." Carrie said as she closed her eyes, her face falling and her arm dropping in despair. "...I skip my turn."

"What?!" Frederick exclaimed in disbelief, Jason sharing in his shock as he took a step back. The two Psyche Brothers both grinned wickedly and chuckled a little bit from behind their teeth. Malcolm, on the other hand, just remained silent, closing his eyes and taking a long breath in, as if it made sense to him that she would do it.

"Carrie… you can't be serious!" Frederick said as he turned to face her. "Come on! You can't give up now! Things may be looking difficult at the moment, but we can overcome them! YOU can overcome them! You're one of the best duelists I've ever seen! If anyone can get out of something like this-"

"You don't get it, do you?!" Carrie suddenly snapped back. "There's nothing I can do anymore! All of my strategies have been shut down from my very first turn!"

Frederick once again went silent, staring at Carrie in disbelief of what he had just heard.

"...My entire strategy is based around having my Monster Cheerleader Captain out on the Field, or at least accessible in some way… without her, several of the cards I have in my Deck can't be activated… and now, because of their Solemn Eternity Trap Card, I can't use my Monster Cheerleader Captain for the rest of this duel… which means that almost all of the powerful cards in my Deck are completely useless now."

She looked up to Frederick, her eyes full of sadness and despair. "...My father made this Deck specifically for me, to tell me that no matter how rough things got, as long as I put my mind and effort into what I'm trying to do, I can do anything… but now, without the very card that he made in my image… there's nothing I can do… I'm sorry, Fred… I didn't mean to hold you back."

"Carrie…" Frederick said softly as he looked at the girl, the pain and the sorrow in her voice really tearing at his emotions. It hurt him to see the girl that was almost always full of energy and ready to take on any situation, completely down on herself like this.

"Such a heartfelt speech… truly it pulls on the heartstrings of all of us." Joe said, that arrogant smirk never leaving his face. "If that's how you feel, then my brother and I shall be happy to end your suffering quickly. But before I pass this turn off to my brother, I shall be activating the Quick-Play Spell Card, Crystal Ball of Cerebrum!"

The card flipped over, and onto the battlefield appeared a floating crystal ball. "This Spell Card can only be activated during our opponent's turn. When this card is activated, it allows me to take any Spell Card in my Deck, and Set it to our side of the Field. If, however, we have a face-up Psychic-Type or Spellcaster-Type Monster on our side of the Field, we can directly activate that Spell Card from the Deck instead."

He took a card directly from his Deck, shuffling the Deck before putting it back into its place in the duel disk. "And with the ability of the Crystal Ball, I activate Banner of Courage from my Deck!" The Crystal Ball of Cerebrum on the Field revealed the card art of the Banner of Courage on it before it faded away, and was replaced by the Continuous Spell Card. "Now, during our Battle Phases only, all of our Monsters on the Field will gain an additional 200 Attack Points!"

"That may not seem like much, but when my brother and I join our forces together, it will be more than enough to take you down in your current, sorry state." Moe said as he drew his card. "First, however, I'll draw my card, and gain another 500 Life Points thanks to our Solemn Wishes. I bet your 15850 Life Points aren't looking like much of an advantage anymore, are they?"

Frederick simply gave a growl in response, Carrie not saying anything as Moe started to make his move. "First things first, I'll be summoning my Serene Psychic Witch to the Field!" He put the Monster onto his duel disk, and it appeared on the battlefield. "She may only start with 1400 ATK for now, but don't forget, once I move into my Battle Phase, she'll gain an additional 200 Points until I move to the end of the Battle Phase, which will bring her up to a more respectable 1600."

"Then you'll have two Monsters with more than 1500 ATK!" Frederick growled in realization of what Moe was planning.

"That's exactly what it means. Now, I move onto my Battle Phase, and my Psychic Monsters will receive their boost." Moe said as he pointed at Jack the Creep in a Box. "First, you'll strike my Serene Psychic Witch! Lay the first attack on that puny toy of his!" The Psychic Monster obeyed, and attacked the toy, who ducked completely into its box to protect itself as the attack landed.

"A remarkable feat to be able to survive stronger attacks for a time." Joe spoke sarcastically. "However, it's not good enough to handle my brother's next assault."

"Psychic Warrior, it's your turn now! Send that hunk of plastic back to the junkyard where it belongs!" The Psychic Warrior dashed forward again with his glowing sword, slashing at the box that the Fiend hid itself in. Only this time, the sword completely cut through, Jack springing out of the box just in time to give a shriek of pain before its hologram shattered.

"And now you're the one that's left defenseless. Psychic Seer, attack them directly now!" The gypsy girl closed her eyes and let her hands sway above her crystal ball. An unseen force from around Carrie and Frederick sent small waves of pain throughout them as she lowered their Life Points to 15550. "300 Points of damage may not seem like much now, but they'll add up in time. It's your move, now… if you dare to make it, that is."

Malcolm simply gave a scoff and looked away. Carrie had completely given up on the notion of them being able to win this duel, and the Psyche Brothers just kept gaining advantage after advantage over them, no matter what they tried to do. "Guess that's it then." he said. "Looks like the great Magic Moe will be escaping with another jackpot of stolen loot."

"Not yet, he won't." Jason started to say as he pointed to the battlefield. "Take a good look."

When Malcolm looked back, he saw Frederick slowly reaching his hand for the next card in his Deck. "You can't be serious." Moe said confidently as he crossed his arms. "Look at the state of affairs you're in, kid. Your partner is completely in despair, and you can't cash in on such a large Life Point difference. You really think you still have a chance to beat us?"

"A chance to beat you…? No… I don't think that." Frederick said before bringing his eyes up to look at the Psyche Brothers, surprising both of them to find not fear or despair, but a burning determination and fearlessness. "I know that we can defeat you."

"What?!" Joe and Moe both shouted in sync, the answer that Frederick gave even snapping Carrie out of her despair as she looked at her partner in surprise. Joe continued to speak, obviously angered by what Frederick had just said. "You fool! You really think that you have a chance to defeat the unbeatable Psyche Brothers?!"

"Not a doubt in my mind." Frederick responded. "You may have the advantage right now, but that doesn't matter… a friend once showed me that no matter how bleak a situation is, there's always a chance as long as you keep working for it, especially when it doesn't seem likely. I didn't understand him at first… but now I do. As long as we keep our heads together and never give up, there's no way that we can lose to the likes of you!"

"Obnoxious brat!" Moe growled as he tightened his fist. "We'll bury that confidence of yours with you, six feet under after we crush you this duel!"

"The only ones that'll be going anywhere down is you and your brother. It's my move! I draw!" Frederick shouted as he drew his card, bringing it up slowly and looking at it before giving a little smirk. "It's time for us to be taking the advantage in this battle, I activate my ultimate Spell Card! Wondrous Toy Chest!"

He placed the Spell Card onto the duel disk, and onto the Field behind him, a huge wooden treasure chest popped up. It opened up slowly, revealing itself to be stuffed with a myriad of dolls, action figures, and the like. Moe, Joe and Carrie silently stared at the chest in surprise, while Jason watched with a grin on his face. "Alright! That's it, buddy!" he cheered as he pumped his fist into the air. "Way to get your best card out!"

"Your best card?" Moe asked before scoffing. "That's what you call your best card? A crate full of children's playthings?"

"I wouldn't be so entertained if I were you, because this 'crate' is just what I need to take control of this entire duel." he said. "You see, when my Wondrous Toy Chest is activated, it allows me to add one Monster with 'Figure' or 'Toy' in its name from my Deck, and add it to my Hand. I'll use the ability to add to my Hand my Figure Sniper Man."

"Big whoop. You use the ability of your Spell Card to add a Monster you can't summon from your Deck to your Hand. If that's all you got, then end your turn now, so I can continue the onslaught that my brother started." Joe sneered.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you that it's rude to interrupt people? Frederick isn't done yet." Jason called out to them, getting both of their attention. "Take a look, why don't you?"

They looked back at the Field, specifically at the card that Frederick had just activated. "What's this?" Moe questioned. "The Wondrous Toy Chest has already activated and resolved its ability, but it's still on the Field."

"That's because my Chest only used one of its abilities." Frederick explained. "You see, much like your Banner of Courage or your Power Through Unity, my Wondrous Toy Chest is a Continuous Spell Card. And its Continuous effect is a real big one. Once per turn, I'm allowed to Special Summon any Monster from my Graveyard, as long as that Monster has 'Toy' or 'Figure' in its name. And I already have the perfect candidate in mind."

From the pile of toys that laid inside the chest, one in particular began to crawl out of it, doing an army crawl as he got out back onto the battlefield. It was a familiar one as well, with its green body and rocket launcher. "With my Wondrous Toy Chest, I Special Summon my Figure Demolitions Man from my Graveyard!" As soon as it crawled its way back to the battlefield, the Monster stood in the same position it had before it was destroyed in Frederick's last turn.

"Ooh. Bringing back your puny little toys. How simply terrifying." Joe mocked with a scoff. "Do the math. He was too weak when you first summoned him, and he's too weak now. He can't do any damage to us."

"That's what you think." Frederick responded. "But this is where I finally get to activate my Figure Demolitions Man's special ability. Since he was Special Summoned by a card with 'Toy' in its name, he gets to destroy one Spell or Trap card of my choosing! And with his newfound shot, I think I'll go ahead and destroy the Banner of Courage you activated last turn!"

The toy soldier took out a special green plastic rocket out of his pocket and loaded it into his toy bazooka before taking aim at the Continuous Spell Card, pulling the trigger and firing a rocket at it. The rocket hit its target, destroying the Banner of Courage in a fiery explosion. "Now your Battle Phase boosts won't be an issue anymore."

"Hmph. Spectacular stunt, kid, but I'm afraid that's not going to do you any good." Moe said. "Or did you somehow forget that, with your middling Attack of 1900, you can't do any good with that Monster of yours?"

"He's right… even with the Banner of Courage destroyed, Figure Demolitions Man still can't destroy any of their Monsters, as long as their Power Through Unity is still in play." Jason said.

"Trust me, I'm well aware of that. That's why my turn isn't finished yet." Frederick said. "My Figure Demolitions Man may not be able to destroy any of your Monsters as it is now, but it doesn't need to. It's already done its job perfectly. So now, with its job done, I'll sacrifice my Demolitions Man for a stronger Monster!"

The figure turned around to Frederick, giving a salute to its owner, who proudly saluted the figure back before it disappeared. "Looks like you were wrong, Joe. I actually can bring this Monster out now. With my Demolitions Man Tributed, I Summon my Figure Sniper Man!"

Another toy soldier appeared in the place of the Figure Demolitions Man, but unlike him and the Figure Infantry Man, this one was made of a silvery medal, and held a sniper rifle in hand. His stats showed him to be a Level 6 EARTH Warrior-Type with 2100 ATK and 1500 DEF.

"Now I get to activate my new Monster's effect. Once per turn, by discarding one card in my Hand, I get to target and destroy any one card on the Field."

"Rgh! You brat! You wouldn't!" Moe yelled.

"We'll see what my Figure Sniper Man has to say about that, as I discard the Toy Clock of Ticking from my Hand." Frederick said as he discarded a card, his Monster loading his rifle up with a bullet from his pocket immediately after. "Go, Figure Sniper Man! Take aim for, and destroy, Moe's Psychic Warrior!" Bringing the scope to his eye, the soldier took aim at the Psychic Warrior and pulled the trigger, a silver bullet being blasted out of his rifle and going straight through the chest of the warrior, like a hot knife through butter. The Psychic Monster fell to his knees and then began to fall to the ground, his hologram breaking just as his face hit the dirt.

"My Psychic Warrior! Destroyed!" Moe yelled furiously. "You'll pay for that one!"

"Not before you pay with some Life Points." Frederick said. "As much as you rely on that Power Through Unity card of yours to protect you, it was pretty easy to realize its weakness. Now with your Psychic Warrior off of the Field, there's nothing that can stop us from taking out your Serene Psychic Witch!"

"He's right, brother." Joe confirmed bitterly. "My Psychic Seer is too weak to defend her. If we try to use our Spell Card now, with the Seer being the only other Monster we control, we'll only succeed in weakening your Witch, and taking even more damage." Moe gritted his teeth and growled. As much as he hated to admit it, he wouldn't be able to stop this attack.

Jason almost teared up a little bit in pride. Frederick had managed to figure out the weakness of that Spell Card, and change the situation in a way that it not only did nothing for Moe, but would actively hurt him if he tried to activate it now. "Go get 'em, Freddy."

"Go, Figure Sniper Man! Destroy his Serene Psychic Witch now!" The Sniper Man took a kneeling pose, once again bringing the scope to his eye and pulling the trigger, another bullet, not as large as the first one, hitting the Serene Psychic Witch, who gave a scream of pain before her hologram shattered. Moe didn't bother activating the effect of Power Through Unity, and instead simply took the 700 damage, bringing the brothers down to 1800.

"Alright! Way to go, buddy! That's how you turn a duel around!" Jason cheered on.

Malcolm gave a little hum. "I'll admit. For someone who barely has any idea what he's doing, that was an impressive play."

"And don't think that my Figure Sniper Man is done bringing the pain just yet. Go on ahead and show them your other special ability, Sniper." Frederick commanded.

Upon hearing this, the figure took another standing position and aimed his gun again, this time firing its bullet into one of the cards in Moe's Hand. "It shot a card in my Hand!" Moe exclaimed.

"You see, when my Figure Sniper Man successfully destroys a Monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard, he also randomly discards one card from your Hand. So not only did you lose your Monster and your Life Points, but you also just lost one of your cards."

"Well, that may be so… but we also gain something in return." Moe responded as he discarded the card that had been shot. "You see, since you destroyed my Serene Psychic Witch and sent her to the Graveyard, she allows me to take any Psychic-Type Monster with 2000 or less ATK in my Deck and remove it from play." He took his Deck out once again and gleefully showed Frederick the card he was banishing. "I'll be banishing my Esper Girl from my Deck."

"I don't know what good that's supposed to do you, but it doesn't matter." Frederick said. "You've already lost a huge chunk of your advantage, and we're just getting things started here." He looked at Carrie and said, "I know things are down, but we can still beat them… I need you to believe that… can you do that, and help me through with this?" 

Carrie silently looked down at her duel disk before sighing. "...I'm not sure what help I can be at this point…" she started to say. "...But alright, Fred… if you still believe that we can actually win this… then I'll believe right with you."

"How sweet. Unfortunately, I have to interrupt your little moment to make my move now." Joe said as he stepped up. "After all, my brother gave me a wonderful opportunity here, and I would be a fool to pass it up. I draw! And thanks to our Solemn Wishes, we gain an additional 500 Life Points."

After the Life Points were gained, to the right of the Psychic Seer, a small dimensional portal suddenly opened up. From out of the portal, an Esper Girl slowly came out, the portal closing from behind her as she made her appearance.

"Esper Girl?!" Carrie exclaimed. "But how?! I thought she was banished because of your Serene Psychic Witch's effect!"

"And she was." Joe said. "However, there's another part of the Witch's ability that my brother didn't mention. During the next Standby Phase after his Witch's ability activates, the Monster that was banished by her effect is Summoned to our side of the Field, as long as the Witch is still in the Graveyard at that time."

"So that's why he decided to banish that Monster." Frederick growled. "He was setting up for his brother."

"That's right. Usually, I'm the one that's making sure everything is set for Moe to do his work, but when my brother so generously gives me a chance to do some damage, I take it. And now, since my Esper Girl was Special Summoned after being removed from play, she makes me remove the top card of my Deck from play, face-down, but I get to add it to my Hand as soon as she leaves the Field."

After placing the top card of his Deck on top of the Life Point counter of his duel disk, as if he was going to add it very soon, he went on. "Next, I'll be activating the Spell Card, Overdone Burial! I activate this card by discarding 1 Monster, such as my Armored Axon Kicker. And then I get to Special Summon one Monster from my Graveyard with a Level lower than the Monster I just discarded. And since my Axon Kicker was Level 6, I can bring back my brother's Level 4 Psychic Warrior!"

A golden tombstone popped out of the ground, and after a few seconds of digging himself out, the Psychic Warrior reemerged from the dirt with a little growl, taking his stance up once again.

"You discarded Axon Kicker for that thing? But why?" Frederick questioned. "Your Axon Kicker has more Attack than my Figure Sniper Man. And you already have Monsters on your side of the Field you could use for Tribute."

Carrie, however, seemed to have already known the answer. "He's setting up a bunch of Monsters on his Field, while he has Esper Girl out; a Tuner Monster." she said through gritted teeth. "That can only mean one thing…"

"That's right!" Joe shouted as he held his hand forward. "I Tune my Level 2 Esper Girl with my Level 4 Psychic Warrior, and my Level 1 Psychic Seer!"

"A Synchro Summon?!" Frederick asked in shock as he watched all three of their Monsters disappear.

"A Level 7 Synchro Summon, to be precise." Joe specified. "By tuning my Monsters together, I can Synchro Summon one of my favorite Monsters! I Synchro Summon Psychic Lifetrancer!"

A new Monster soon appeared on the Field of the Psyche Brothers. Despite the cybernetic enhancements that were a part of her feature, she was quite beautiful. But neither duelist held any illusion of this Monster being only beauty.

"Quite impressive, isn't she? And she's quite useful to boot." he said. "But first, we can't forget about our parting gift from Esper Girl. Since she was sent from the Field to the Graveyard during the Synchro Summon, I'm now allowed to add the card that she banished back to my Hand."

He took the card and grinned a little bit. "I do hope that card serves you well, brother." Moe said with a smirk. "And now is the time to be sending that toy of theirs back to their chest. For with our new Attack power of 2400, they're no match for us."

"Indeed, my brother. And so we shall! Psychic Lifetrancer, attack!" The Monster held up her hands, and above each of them, a large sphere began to form. Over her left, mechanical arm, a dark, black ball that zapped with electricity, and in the right, still organic arm, a ball of fire and light that glowed with a gentle heat. After a second or two, the ball of light faded, and the dark energy ball remained, which the Psychic Lifetrancer threw at the Figure Sniper Man, destroying him in a powerful explosion, taking 300 more Life Points off of Carrie and Frederick's total.

"And before you get any silly ideas about reviving that Figure Sniper Man and using its ability to destroy my Psychic Lifetrancer the next turn, I'll activate my Spell Card, Gravedigger's Ghoul." Joe went on as he activated the Spell Card. "By activating this card, I can select 2 Monsters from your Graveyard and remove them from play. I'll be banishing your Figure Sniper Man and your Figure Demolitions Man! So now you have nothing in the Graveyard to Special Summon!"

Frederick gave an irritated growl as he took his Figure Cards in his Graveyard and put them in the Deck box. As he did, Malcolm gave an amused scoff. "Of all of the cards you could possibly think of using, you go for Gravedigger's Ghoul? Seriously?" he mocked. "You must not have stolen too many good cards to have to resort to such an underpowered card."

"It may not be the most powerful card in the world, but it serves its purpose just fine." Joe responded, completely unaffected by Malcolm's attempt to get into his head. "It cuts the resources away from them, lowering their options while we get to strike at what few options they do have."

"Besides, once we defeat these two, and we get those rare cards in our Decks, there won't be any need for these underpowered cards. We'll be the strongest duelists in the world, and then nobody will be able to stop us on our heists!"

"You know… if you really wanted a boost to your Decks that bad, perhaps simply buying the cards would be less hassle for you." Carrie said, trying to be as brave as she possibly could. "Now then… are you going to end your turn so I can make mine?"

"Still in a rush to get your misery over with?" Joe questioned. "Very well then. But before I end my turn, I'll use my Psychic Lifetrancer's Special ability. By banishing one Psychic-Type Monster from our Graveyard, I gain 1200 Life Points. Since she's no use to me anymore, I'll banish my Psychic Seer to gain 1200 Life Points." The Psychic Lifetrancer held up her hands again, this time, the warm light orb staying, and gently floating to the Psyche Brothers, bringing their Life Points up to 3500.

"Well… Carrie and Frederick are starting to get somewhere." Jason said. "No matter what situation they're in, though, Moe and Joe just keep setting each other up to get out of it on their next turn."

"At this rate, it's only a matter of time before the two manage to overwhelm them." Malcolm said. "They should have never accepted the duel in this way. They've only set themselves up for failure."

"Hey, they're managing to fight back, aren't they?" Jason argued. "They still have a chance to win this duel, so why not give them the chance to do so?"

"Because they don't have a chance of winning. Not if they keep playing like they are." Malcolm said as he looked at Jason. "Moe and Joe's main threat to them isn't the power of their cards, or their strategies. It's the fact that they're able to work together so well, and set each other up for the next to take over. Those two don't have that. Frederick's cards don't support Carrie's playstyle, and Carrie isn't even able to do anything anymore."

He turned back to the duel at hand and went on. "Fine. They managed to get a good turn in on them, but it's not going to matter if they can't work together to overcome the odds."

Carrie looked down at her Hand. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew that Malcolm was right. Frederick may have given them a good start and brought some hope back into this duel, but if they were going to win, she would need to find a way to use what little strategies she have left. "It's my move. I draw." she said as she drew her card and began to look through her Hand for some sort of answer.

"First, I'll be placing one card face-down." she said as she placed a card in the Spell/Trap Zone. "Then, I'll be activating the effect of Wondrous Toy Chest to bring out a Monster from our Graveyard."

"It seems you've already forgotten, haven't you?" Joe questioned smugly. "You don't have any Monsters left in your Graveyard for you to Special Summon. I already removed your Figure Demolitions Man and Figure Sniper Man from the game. You have no other Monsters currently in your Graveyard with 'Figure' or 'Toy' in their name."

"Not exactly." Frederick began. "It's true, none of the other Monsters in our Graveyard have 'Toy' or 'Figure' in their name, but there's still my Jack the Creep in a Box. He's always treated as a 'Toy' Monster, thanks to his ability."

"Oh, great." Joe grumbled, his smug smirk fading into a scowl of annoyance. "That means that it can be brought back by that Toy Chest of yours."

"That's right. It may not be much, but it'll do while we try to think of something." she said to Frederick as the pile of toys within the chest began to shake a bit. The box that held the newly revived Fiend Monster sprang out and tumbled onto the battlefield, a few seconds going past until Jack popped out of the box with its laugh.

"Fine. Go ahead and stall all you want. It'll make no difference when we crush you." Moe said as he drew his card. "I draw a card, and gain 500 Life Points with our Solemn Wishes. And then I'll place one card face-down. I could easily banish another one of our Psychic Monsters in our Graveyard to increase our Life Points further, but I have other plans for them. Since you brought your little creep in a box back, I end my turn."

"Then it's my move again." Frederick said as he drew his card and looked at it. "First, I'll activate the Spell Card, Enchanting Fitting Room! By paying 800 Life Points, I excavate the top four cards of my Deck, then Special Summon any Normal Monsters with a Level of 3 or lower that I excavate, while the rest are shuffled back into my Deck."

"Trying to summon more weak Monsters to stall us out? Pathetic." Moe said with a scoff.

"Far from it, Moe. You'll find that out right now, though. I excavate the top four cards from my Deck!" He took the top four cards and looked at them. "My Toy Mine, Junkyard of Toys and Figure Machine Gun Man are all not Level 3 or lower Normal Monsters, but my Figure Infantry Man is. I shuffle the other three into my Deck, and Special Summon my Figure Infantry Man to the Field!"

The green soldier appeared alongside Jack the Creep in a Box, his gun held ready for battle as his stats showed. Both of the Psyche Brothers were far from impressed. "And you spent 800 of your Life Points to bring out one pathetic Monster… because why?" Joe questioned.

"Because by Special Summoning my Figure Infantry Man from my Deck, I still haven't used my Normal Summon for the turn." Frederick explained as he finished shuffling his Deck. "And now, not only do I have my Normal Summon still, but I also have two Monsters to sacrifice."

Carrie gave a little smile to Frederick as she heard that. "You about to bring out who I think you are?" she questioned.

"He didn't get a fair chance to show what he can do when we first dueled, so I think it's only fair that we give him the chance that he deserves." Frederick responded with a nod as he looked back to the Field. "Now, I sacrifice my Figure Infantry Man and my Jack the Creep in a Box!" The Figure Infantry Man turned around and saluted Frederick, before Jack bent down and took hold of him, pulling him into the box with him before it disappeared.

"Now this toy is going to knock you back to the Cretaceous Period! Come on out, Toy-Rex!"

Jason gave a smile and a nod as he watched the large toy Dinosaur rise from the ground, stomping its feet as it gave a loud, powerful roar that boomed in the air. "That's one of Fred's strongest Monsters… with those 3000 Attack Points, he'll be changing the game for sure."

"I certainly hope so, for all of our sakes." Malcolm said as he looked at the Monster. "If they can't end this duel soon, who knows how long it will be until Moe and Joe take control again."

Frederick pointed to the Psyche Brothers' Synchro Monster as he gave the command. "Alright, Toy-Rex! Let's smash this Synchro of theirs to bits! Attack, now!" The Dinosaur Monster gave a roar as it charged forward towards the Synchro Monster, raising its large, heavy foot up as it stomped harshly on her, crushing her. Her cybernetic arm remained visible for a moment underneath its foot, clutching onto it as if trying to hold on for dear life until it eventually gave out, the hologram breaking as soon as her arm dropped to the ground.

"Rrrgh! She's destroyed!" Moe growled. "But no matter. What's another 600 Life Points of damage anyway?"

"If 600 isn't enough, then how about we try 1200?" Frederick countered. Upon hearing this, Moe looked to his duel disk, specifically at the Life Point display, being shocked to find that, indeed, rather than going to 2900 like they should have, his Life Points went down to 2300. "Thanks to my Toy-Rex's special ability, any Battle Damage you would take from battles involving him is doubled. So you're going to feel a lot more bang for our buck every time we hit you."

"Rrgh. You're making things interesting, I'll give you that." Joe said. "But I promise you, that won't be enough to beat us. We're only a few plays away from taking this duel back."

"We'll see about that." Frederick said. "I use the ability of my Wondrous Toy Chest to revive my Jack the Creep in a Box." The toy bounced out of the pile once again, popping out with its wicked laughter. "Now we have both an unstoppable force and an immovable object on our side of the Field. Now I end my turn."

"Then I'll draw for my turn, and take my 500 Life Points, thanks to my Solemn Wishes." Joe said as he drew. "And before I'll be doing anything, I'll be taking up on my brother's generosity with the card he set for me on his previous turn. I activate the Trap Card, Psychic Overload!" The Trap Card flipped over, and Joe began to explain as he reached for his and Moe's Graveyard. "In order to activate this effect, I need to have three Psychic-Type Monsters in the Grave. And since Moe and I do, we get to shuffle those three back into our Decks, and draw two cards afterwards."

He took three cards from the Graveyard, putting one in his Extra Deck while tossing the other two to Moe. "I'll be using this to retrieve my Psychic Lifetrancer, and give my brother back his Psychic Warrior and Serene Psychic Witch." Moe gave a nod and shuffled the two Monsters into his Deck, while Joe got to draw the two cards, gaining 500 more Life Points as a result.

When he drew his cards, he gave a grin and looked at Moe. "Our time is coming, brother. For one of the cards that I've just drawn is none other than Krebons!" He played the Monster onto the Field in Attack Mode.

Jason gave a frown of confusion as he saw that. "They just played a Monster on the Field with only 1200 Attack Points…? But Toy-Rex has 3000, and doubles the damage dealt to them. Once Toy-Rex attacks, it'll wipe out the rest of their Life Points…"

"If that's all you have to do, then it's my move!" Carrie said as she drew. "And since your Krebons is up in Attack Mode, I think I'll go ahead and end this duel right now! Go, Toy-Rex! Attack Krebons now!"

"And for any other Monster, your attack may have very well ended this duel…" Joe started.

"But not so against our Krebons, when he has his special ability!" Moe finished. "By paying 800 of our Life Points when you declare an attack on our Monster, he automatically negates the attack! Your Toy-Rex is powerless to do anything as long as we have Life Points to spend!"

Carrie watched as their Life Points dropped to 2500, but in exchange, the Psychic Monster released some sort of strange frequency, keeping the Toy-Rex from attacking. "Looks like that didn't work out." she said as she looked at Frederick. "There anything else you want me doing this turn?"

Frederick shook his head. "As long as we have Toy-Rex and Jack on the Field, we don't currently have any major need for any other Monsters." he said. "Our best bet would be to keep attacking, and force them to pay Life Points until they can no longer stop our attacks."

"Easier said than done, especially when it's my turn." Moe said as he drew his next card and smirked. "Looks like leaving that Psychic Overload card for my brother served me just as well as him. I place one card face-down, then I summon my Fiendish Voodoo Doll to the Field!" He placed his Monster down on the duel disk, and its hologram appeared, portraying it as a very small, red humanoid doll of sorts with two black horns, mostly black eyes and a stitched smirk. Its stats showed it to be a Level 1 DARK Fiend-Type with 0 ATK and 500 DEF.

"He just summoned a Monster with no Attack to speak of in Attack Position…?" Frederick asked.

"If he's leaving it so open to attack, he obviously wants us to try to hit it for whatever reason." Carrie said. "I say we don't give them the chance to show us what their plan is. Stick with ours, and see where we go from there."

"Right." Frederick said as he drew his card. "Whatever reason that you played that doll of yours, we're not going to give you the chance to show us. Toy-Rex! Attack Krebons now!" The Dinosaur gave a roar and began to charge forwards towards Krebons. Moe didn't seem to be activating its effect to stop the attack.

Instead, he seemed to have a completely different plan. "But I'm afraid we will show you, thanks to this!" he said as he flipped his face-down card up. "Behold, the Trap Card, Shift!"

All of a sudden, the position of both the Psyche Brothers' Monsters on the field swapped in nearly an instant, so that now, instead of Krebons standing in the way of the Toy-Rex's attack, it instead stood safely out of harm's way, while the Fiendish Voodoo Doll was now the one in the Dinosaur's sights. "What?! Their Monsters changed spots?!" Frederick asked in shock.

"That's right. When Shift is activated, if you target a Monster we control with an attack or the effect of a Spell or Trap Card, it allows my brother to change the target to a different Monster we control." Joe explained. "So now, instead of attacking our Krebons, your precious toy has been forced to attack our Voodoo Doll instead."

Just as they said, the Toy-Rex reached its new target, stomping on the Voodoo Doll in the same way it did with Psychic Lifetrancer. "And before you go on about how you've now won this duel, I recommend you take a very good look at your Life Points."

Upon hearing this, both Carrie and Frederick checked their duel disks. Suddenly, their Life Points, which were sitting at a rather comfortable 14450, suddenly began to drop rapidly. "What the- why are our Life Points going down?! The Voodoo Doll was your Monster!" Frederick yelled as both he and Carrie watched their Life Points go down to 8450.

"That may be so, but our Fiendish Voodoo Doll has a special ability for just that." Joe said. "During your Battle Phases only, our little friend deals to you any of the battle damage that my brother and I would have taken from any battles involving it."

"That's what they were going for…" Jason muttered under his breath. "They were trying to get a big hit on their Life Points to try to even the playing field."

"And that's not the only ability our little doll has." Moe chimed. When the Toy-Rex lifted its foot up, rather than the Fiendish Voodoo Doll disappearing, it instead slowly forced itself back up from the ground, giving a wicked cackle as it did. "Our Fiendish Voodoo Doll also can't be destroyed by battle. If you ever want to try to get a go at us, you'll have to get through him first."

Malcolm looked at Jason as he began to speak. "Krebons is a Tuner Monster, much like that Esper Girl before it, and they seem pretty keen on protecting it." he said. "You know what that means, don't you?"

Jason gave another nod and looked at Malcolm. "They're planning on Synchro Summoning again… but what could they be going for this time? Psychic Lifetrancer can't possibly be their goal. She's too weak to defeat Toy-Rex."

"I don't know… but I get the feeling we're about to find out real soon." Malcolm said as he watched on.

"It's going to be sooner than you think. It's my move!" Joe shouted as he drew his card. As soon as he saw it, he almost leapt into the air in joy. "The time has come, brother! Everything we need is gathered on our Field and in my Hand!"

Moe gave a smirk and a nod. "Do the honors then, my brother." he said as they gained their 500 Life Points, bringing them up to 3500.

"With pleasure. I activate the Spell Card, Monster Reborn!" Joe said as he played his Spell Card. "As the name implies, this Spell Card allows me to Special Summon one Monster of our choosing from either Graveyard! And I'll choose my brother's Master Gig!"

From the ground, the powerful Psychic Monster, Master Gig, arose, leaving both Carrie and Frederick confused. "Master Gig?" Carrie questioned. "But that card never went into your Grave!"

"Oh, but I'm afraid you're wrong. It did go there." Moe said. "Don't you remember? When your Figure Sniper Man destroyed my Serene Psychic Witch earlier in the duel, he got to discard one random card from my Hand."

"And Master Gig was the one that he sent to the Graveyard…" Frederick finished with a little groan. "But that's no matter. Your Master Gig still has 300 less Attack Points than my Toy-Rex. Not only that, but my Toy-Rex has protection from any effect destruction as long as my Wondrous Toy Chest is on the Field, thanks to his special ability. Your Master Gig's ability is useless."

"Ohohoh, my little friend. I couldn't care less about my Master Gig's ability or ATK at this point." Joe said. "All that matters to me is his Level. As a Level 8 Monster, my Master Gig is the perfect candidate to tune with my Level 2 Tuner, Krebons."

"A Level 10 Synchro…?" Jason questioned as he felt a chill run down his back. "Somehow, I get the feeling that'll be bad news for us."

"More than you know." Moe replied. "With these two Monsters, my brother can finally bring forth our ultimate Monster! The one that can never be defeated!"

The two Monsters on the Psyche Brothers' Field disappeared with a blinding light. "Now, prepare for a being who transcends the mortal veil of knowledge!" Joe shouted.

His brother joined in by responding with, "A power and wisdom so great, that none could dare to contest her!"

Now, both of them spoke in unison, their voices matching up near flawlessly together. "The ultimate Psychic Synchro Monster! Goddess of the Eternal Mind, in Defense Mode!"

A shape began to take place in the bright light, which slowly faded out, and left a woman in its place, sitting on the ground with her eyes closed and her legs crossed. Her beauty was near otherworldly, her lustrous, very long blonde hair flowing and whipping around with the winds of her summoning. She wore a golden metal chestplate as a brazier, and a flowing orange pair of long pants, complimented by a golden jeweled belt. On her head was a very large golden crown, decorated with jewelry and silk. Her stats showed her to be a Level 10 LIGHT Psychic-Type with 0 ATK and 0 DEF.

"That's what all the set up was for?" Carrie questioned as she stared at the new Synchro Monster. "She doesn't have a single point, on either side of the spectrum."

"Don't you know that brute force alone isn't enough in winning a duel?" Moe asked with a laugh. "You'll learn this fact as our Goddess proceeds to crush you and the rest of your Life Points!"

"We'll see about that! It's my turn!" Carrie said as she drew her card. "I'm going to have Toy-Rex attack! Crush their Goddess now!" The Dinosaur Monster roared and began to charge forward towards the Synchro Monster, its feet pounding against the ground in its run.

"Sorry to say, but I'm afraid it'll take more than that to destroy our Monster." Joe said as the Dinosaur reached its target. This time, however, instead of crushing the Monster, a barrier of light appeared around the Goddess of the Eternal Mind, completely blocking off the attack.

"What?!" Frederick exclaimed in shock. "The attack didn't go through?!"

"Oh, on the contrary, it went through just fine." Moe corrected. "But just as I said, it'll take more than that to destroy our Goddess. For whenever your turn comes around, our Goddess of the Eternal Mind builds a special protective power on herself, protecting herself from being destroyed by battle during your turn."

"Only during our turn?" Carrie asked. "Why not be unable to be destroyed by battle the whole time?"

"Oh, you'll find that out soon enough. For now, though, if you're finished with your turn, I think I'll be taking mine."

Carrie made no objections and simply remained silent as Moe drew his card, bringing his and Joe's Life Points up to 4000. "First, I'll equip our Fiendish Voodoo Doll with the Ring of Magnetism. With this card, it loses 500 ATK and DEF, not that he had any ATK to begin with, but in exchange, as long as it's equipped with that card, you can only target it for attacks. Next, I'll be Summoning my Psychic Commander to my side of the Field."

The Psychic Commander came out onto the Field, and as it did something happened with the Goddess of the Eternal Mind. A large ruby that sat at the front of her crown, right over the top of her head, glowed a powerful red for a moment before fading out, the jewel still glowing slightly. "What was that?" Malcolm questioned. "That jewel just reacted to the Psychic Commander being summoned."

"That's a part of our Goddess' special ability." Moe said. "You see, each time a Psychic-Type Monster is Summoned to our side of the Field, or a Psychic-Type we control deals damage to your Life Points, our Goddess of the Eternal Mind gains a Mind Counter. For each of these Mind Counters, she gains 1000 ATK and DEF during our turns only. And, if she were ever removed from the Field in any way, she would allow us to take a Spell and a Trap card from our Graveyard or our Deck for every 2 Mind Counters that were on her when she left the Field."

To this, Joe smirked and added in, "Not that she'll be leaving the Field at all at any point. She'll be crushing you long before you have a chance to find a way to get around her."

"So that's the whole plan of that Monster… immune to battle during the opponent's turn, while during your own turn, it raises its stats to a point that nothing could touch it in battle." Frederick said. "In that case, we're just going to have to find some other way to deal with it."

"If you can, that is." Moe said as he mockingly held his hand out to offer Frederick his turn. "Go on ahead then. Make your move."

"I will! It's my turn!" he said as he drew his card, grinning a little bit when he saw it. "Looks like your Goddess of the Eternal Mind isn't going to be on the Field any longer!I sacrifice my Jack the Creep in a Box to Normal Summon my second copy of Figure Sniper Man!"

Jack went back into his box and disappeared with it. In his place was another Figure Sniper Man. "Oh no! Another Figure Sniper Man!" Joe exclaimed. "Now he can discard a card and target our ultimate Monster with its effect! We're doomed!"

"Say goodbye to your Goddess, and soon, the game!" Frederick said as he pointed at the Goddess of the Eternal Mind. "I discard my Toy Knight to give my Sniper the ammunition he needs! Now, my soldier, take aim for their Goddess of the Eternal Mind, and destroy her!" The Sniper got on one knee and brought the scope to his eye once again, loading his rifle with a special bullet from his pocket before taking aim at the Synchro Monster and pulling the trigger, firing his bullet made to fell almost any Monster, even the strongest of them.

As the bullet came soaring towards the Synchro Monster, the white forcefield appeared around her, stopping the bullet in its tracks. It kept pushing against the forcefield for a few seconds, but eventually, it gave into the protective energy, and the bullet completely shattered into white, glowing shards, harmlessly dispersing into dust as it fell to the ground.

"What?! Oh no!" Carrie yelled in shock, and horror, to which Frederick shared in.

"His effect didn't work!" Jason shouted out. Even Malcolm, who was staying mostly quiet and seeming uninterested, was visually surprised by this.

Joe, who had previously been feigning fear, began to burst out in hysterical laughter. "You didn't actually think we would leave our ultimate Monster so easily destroyed by such a simple ability, did you?!" he asked before he went back to laughing.

"That's right, you fools. Perhaps my brother and I forgot to mention that, during our opponent's turn, our Goddess of the Eternal Mind is also completely unaffected by our opponent's card effects. You still get to target our Monster with your effect, of course, but since our Goddess is currently immune to your card effects, your effect goes off without a hitch."

"You bastards! You purposely withheld that information!" Frederick yelled. "That isn't fair!"

"Fair?! Fair, he says?!" Joe yelled, laughing even harder now. "Who does he think he's facing?! A couple of preschoolers on the playground?! We're the Psyche Brothers! We're the greatest thieves to ever grace these parts with our presence! And we did not trick all of those fools with our magic act to let some self-righteous college students take that away from us!"

"Damn it… we were so close." Frederick growled under his breath as he looked at his cards. "How are we supposed to defeat something that's completely immune to our effects during their turn…? We can't attack it, because of the Ring of Magnetism… I don't know if I have any options here…"

Carrie was silent as she looked at her cards in her Hand and on her Field. They weren't able to do any damage, as the Voodoo Doll would simply reflect any they tried to do, and the Goddess of the Eternal Mind wasn't affected by their card effects during their turn either… the only way that they would be able to defeat her, it seemed like, would be to strike at her during Moe or Joe's turn… but how were they supposed to do that?

As she looked back on the Field, she realized that she still had one card face-down. She then looked back at the cards in her Hand, and it finally hit her. There was a way to defeat the Psychic Goddess. They could do it! But in order for them to make it work, she would need Frederick's help.

"Well, I have a turn to make, and I don't have all day to do it." Joe said as he snapped his fingers. "End your turn and make it snappy. We've got some cards to rob, and not all night to do it." Frederick gave a growl and looked back at his Hand. As much as he hated to admit it, there was nothing more he could do for the turn.

"Fred!" Carrie called to him, getting his attention. "I figured out a way that we can win this! But I need your help to do it!" she told him.

"Y-you do?" Frederick asked. "Well, what is it? Tell me what you want me to do."

"Your Enchanted Fitting Room Spell Card. The one that you used earlier in the duel. Please tell me you have another copy of that right now!"

Frederick was confused, but looked down at the cards in his Hand. There were only two cards left in there, but by sheer luck, he did have another one in there. "Yeah… yeah, I have one. It's here right now." he said, to which Carrie felt a huge sense of relief. "Do you want me to activate it now?"

"No! Don't activate it now! Set it on the Field for me next turn!"

"What…? But… why? What good would this card do for you?"

"You have to Set it for me! Please! I have a plan! We can win this duel, but I need you to trust me on this one!"

Frederick looked down to his Hand again then back to Carrie. He wasn't sure what she was talking about. He didn't see how this card would be of any use for her.

"...Whatever you're up to, I hope you know what you're doing." Frederick said before looking back to Moe and Joe. "I'll set this one card face-down, then I'll end my turn."

"Hmph. I don't care what card you try to use against us. This will end all the same." Joe said as he drew his card, gaining another 500 Life Points from Solemn Wishes. "I sacrifice Psychic Commander, in order to Tribute Summon my Storm Caller!" The weaker Psychic Monster vanished, replaced by a much stronger Psychic Monster, who was 200 points stronger than the Figure Sniper Man. The red jewel on the crown of the Goddess of the Eternal Mind glowed again as she became a thousand points stronger. "And now, I'll be flipping my Goddess of the Eternal Mind into Attack Mode. It's time to begin her assault."

Slowly, the Goddess of the Eternal Mind stood up from her sitting position, standing tall and radiating with power. "Now, first things first, Storm Caller will attack and destroy your Figure Sniper Man!" The Storm Caller's satellite flared to life with electricity, zapping with energy and firing a blue bolt of electricity at the Figure Sniper Man. The toy soldier took the lightning bolt, his body thrashing and twitching with the electricity before his hologram was destroyed, taking 200 more Life Points from Carrie and Frederick.

The ruby on the Goddess' crown glowed again, only this time, it was glowing much brighter now.

"And now, it's time for you to fall before her power! Goddess of the Eternal Mind! Attack their Toy-Rex, now!"

"What are you playing at?" Carrie asked. "Your Goddess has the same number of Attack Points as Toy-Rex. And since your Goddess is only protected from battle during our turn, both her and Toy-Rex will be destroyed."

"Under normal circumstances, you would be right." Joe said as he took a card from his Hand. "But it's still my turn, so I'm about to activate this Quick Play Spell! The Spell Card, Psychic Fervor! It's a Quick Play Spell that I can only activate during the Battle Phase. By losing Life Points equal to the ATK of any Monster I target, I can transfer the Points I just lost into the targeted Monster, essentially doubling its ATK until the end of the turn!"

An ugly mix of green and pink surrounded the Psyche Brothers as their Life Points were dropped down to 1500, the colorful aura transferring into the Goddess of the Eternal Mind, her ATK doubling as a result.

"6000 Attack Points?!" Carrie growled. "Oh, man. This is gonna be a big hit!"

The Synchro Monster folded her hands together and closed her eyes as her entire body began to glow with a harsh light, mixed in with the pink and green from the Psyche Brothers, a large blast of light shooting from the jewel of her head. It hit the Toy-Rex, who roared out in pain as it was quickly destroyed by the blast, both Carrie and Frederick screaming as their Life Points dropped down to 5250.

"Fred! Carrie!" Jason yelled out to them in worry.

Joe gave a little chuckle as another Mind Counter came to the Goddess of the Eternal Mind, granting her even more power. As he ended his turn, however, her points went completely back to 0. "Well, that's my turn." he said. "My Goddess of the Eternal Mind is back to having no ATK or DEF, and we only have 1500 Life Points left… But then, what good will that do you? You can't attack us because of our Ring of Magnetism and our Fiendish Voodoo Doll."

Moe gave a little chuckle. "It's over, you two. Just give it up now. There's no way that the two of you can best our teamwork."

"I… I'm not giving up." Carrie growled as she tightened her hand up into a fist. "...My friends never stopped believing in me, even when I did… we will not be defeated!"

"Bold words coming from someone who was so deep in her despair just a while prior." Moe mocked. "You should have just kept your head down. My brother countered every single strategy you may have had on the first play."

"Not all of them… just watch and see!" Carrie said as she drew her card. "First things first, I'm going to be activating the ability of Toy Chest! With this card, I bring back the Toy-Rex that you had just destroyed last turn!" The pile shook like crazy until the familiar toy dinosaur leapt out of the chest, landing on the ground with a heavy thud and roaring loudly.

"And now, I'm going to be activating the Spell Card that was left for me by my friend! Enchanting Fitting Room!" She flipped the Spell Card over. "Just like when my partner used it, I pay 800 Life Points, and then I check the top cards of my Deck for any Normal Monsters with a Level of 3 or lower, and Special Summon those Monsters!"

"And just what good is that going to do?" Moe asked as he laughed. "Get it through your head! No Monsters of yours can defeat our Goddess of the Eternal Mind!"

"You're about to find out." Carrie said as she closed her eyes. "This is it… if I don't get what I'm looking for here… the help I've gotten from Frederick… all of it will be for nothing… this is my only chance… please…" She opened her eyes, a fierce fire burning in them as she took the top 4 cards of her Deck and looked at them.

Her eyes widened and her blood was pumping as she saw what she had just taken. It was perfect. "My Victoria and Drill Rerun may not be Level 3 or lower Normal Monsters… but thanks to my Spell Card, I can finally bring out the two Monsters I tried to bring out on my first turn! Come on out! My two Monster Cheerleaders!" 

The Monsters Cheerleaders leapt out as they both appeared on the battlefield, standing in position and both giving loud, energetic cheers as they arrived.

"...Great move, Carrie… but I don't think you realized something." Frederick said as the Wondrous Toy Chest slowly disappeared from the battlefield. "My Wondrous Toy Chest can only stay on the Field as long as all Monsters we control have 'Figure' or 'Toy' in their name. Now that you have your Monster Cheerleaders out on the Field… I have to destroy it."

"That doesn't matter." Carrie said, surprising Frederick. "As long as we have Toy-Rex, we no longer need the effects of Wondrous Toy Chest. But before I end my turn, now that I have my two Monster Cheerleaders out, I can activate the effect of a Monster in my Hand! By having two 'Cheerleader' Monsters on my side of the Field, I can Special Summon, from my Hand, my Cheerleader Monster Coach!"

Part of the ground was suddenly filled with explosions and fire as a large, very muscular bipedal alligator leapt up from the explosions, landing on both hands and feet and remaining on them like a regular animale for a few seconds before he slowly stood on his two feet, crossing his arms and giving a harsh snort, with steam rising out as he did. An orange cap fell from the sky and landed on its head, reading the word "COACH" in white. Its stats showed it to be a Level 8 FIRE Beast-Warrior with 2700 ATK and 2100 DEF.

"The coach may appear monstrous and overly tough, but he's always got the best interests of his squad in mind. Therefore, as long as he's on the Field, you can't target any of my other Cheerleader Monsters for attack."

"Big deal. As long as our Fiendish Voodoo Doll remains with the Ring of Magnetism, you can't hurt us!"

"Maybe… maybe not… we'll just have to wait and see." Carrie said. "My turn is over."

"So be it. Then it's my turn! I draw, and gain 500 Life Points from Solemn Wishes." Moe said as he drew his card. "And now, with 4 Mind Counters on her, our Goddess of the Eternal Mind now raises to a staggering 4000 Attack Points! Your Toy-Rex's measly 3000 pale in comparison now, and without your precious Spell Card, you won't be able to bring it back after this time! First, we'll destroy your Toy-Rex once again, then we'll rip each and every one of your Cheerleader's apart one at a time!"

Frederick gave a little gulp and looked at Carrie. He really hoped that she had a plan for this.

"Now, Goddess of the Eternal Mind! Destroy his pathetic Toy-Rex once again!" The Goddess closed her eyes and folded her hands again, glowing with a harsh light before another blast was fired from the gem on her crown at the dinosaur.

"That's going to be the last mistake you make in this duel." Carrie said. "Now, with my face-down card, I can finally end this duel! Reveal my Trap Card! Cheer to Victory!"

"Hey… that's the card that-" Jason started to say in surprise, instantly remembering it from the first time Carrie and Frederick dueled.

"My friends never gave up on me… even when the situation seemed hopeless, they still were there to root for me… and with this Trap Card, I can do the same! I'll be here to cheer my friends on, even in the greatest difficulties! That's why, with this Trap Card, when you target a Monster on our side of the Field for an attack, this card multiplies the Attack Points of the attack target by the number of Cheerleader Monsters we control!"

"Of course! That's why you wanted my Enchanting Fitting Room!" Frederick exclaimed. "With your two Monster Cheerleaders and the Monster Cheerleader Coach on our Field…"

The Monster Cheerleader Coach took a whistle out from underneath his cap and blew into it. The two Monster Cheerleaders got into position and began to cheer Toy-Rex on, a white light radiating from all three of the Monsters and transferring over to Toy-Rex. The blast from the Eternal Goddess hit its mark, but this time, Toy-Rex remained strong, growling fiercely as the light from the Cheerleaders surrounded and empowered it.

"That… that Monster should be destroyed…! What's going on?!" Joe asked as he and his brother took a step back in horror.

"Its… its ATK…" Moe began to say, watching as Toy-Rex's ATK was tripled from Carrie's Trap. "It's… it's 9000!"

"What?! 9000?!" Joe shouted. "There's no way that can be right! Can it?!"

"Oh, but I'm afraid it is." Frederick answered with a smirk. "This is the end of your run."

"No! If this is allowed to go off, we'll lose the duel!" Joe shouted, both he and his brother being in a panic for the first time in the duel. "Moe! You have to do something before it's too late!"

"I already declared the attack!" Moe said through his teeth. "I can't stop it!"

"Then just as Carrie said, this is the end!" Frederick shouted. "Go, Toy-Rex!"

Carrie jumped in afterwards. "Show these two clowns what true teamwork and friendship is all about!"

Both Frederick and Carrie pointed at the Goddess of the Eternal Mind and spoke in unison. "Counterattack, now! Destroy Goddess of the Eternal Mind, and end this duel!"

With a little roar, the Dinosaur began to charge right through the blast of the Synchro Monster. It slammed its entire body into Goddess of the Eternal Mind at full force, the latter giving a sharp gasp of pain as she was thrown to the ground. She slowly glowed brighter and brighter for a few seconds, rays of light blasting out of her stomach before she exploded in a near blinding flash.

"Our Goddess!" both of the Psyche Brothers yelled in shock. As the light faded, and the destruction of the Goddess was proven, both brothers watched as their final 2000 Life Points were lost.

Frederick stood there in silence for a few seconds, taking in what had just happened. "We… we did it… we won!" he began to say. "We defeated the Psyche Brothers! Alright!" He brought both of his fists into the air in victory.

"Frederick!" Carrie exclaimed in joy as she ran over and hugged Frederick, almost knocking him off his feet as the remaining holograms slowly faded. "We actually did it! You were amazing in that duel!" Frederick didn't respond, but the blush on his face was all the answer he needed.

"Way to go, you two! I knew that you could do it!" Jason cheered before looking at Malcolm. "See?! What did I say?! I told you those two would pull it off in the end!"

Malcolm was silent before giving a hum and nodding. "Fine… I'll admit. That was an impressive feat for them."

"No… no no no no no." Joe began to say, interrupting the celebrations. "This… this isn't happening!"

Moe also began to speak again. "We are the Psyche Brothers… we're uncatchable. Unbeatable. Untouchable. We can't be stopped here… we won't be stopped here!"

"It's over, Moe and Joe." Frederick said as he crossed his arms. "We had a deal, and you lost. Now it's time for the both of you to pay for your crimes."

"Uhhhh… just… one small problem with that." Jason said as he stepped forward a bit. "...We can't call the police right now… none of us brought our phones here."

Both Moe and Joe perked up a little bit as they heard this. "Oh my God, that's right!" Carrie yelled as she put her hands on her forehead. "We all kept them in Jason's car, so they wouldn't go off and alert Moe that we were onto him! Now we have both of these thieves right where we want them, and we can't even get the cops here to arrest them!"

"Hmhmhmhmhm… ahahahahaha! You idiots! All of that work, and this is what you have to show for it!" Moe yelled out in laughter. "It'll take you minutes just to get to a phone to call them, and by the time you do manage to call them, my brother and I will have already made our escape! Looks like our reign of thieving isn't ending tonight!"

"We may have to adapt our plans once people find out our secret, but that will be no problem! We'll be free to continue our work, and it'll all be thanks to you four!" Joe finished. "The Psyche Brothers will never be captured!"

"That's what you think, Magic Moe and Magic Joe." came an elderly woman's voice.

As all of them turned around to the direction where the voice came from, they were met by the sight of an old, short woman, her hair gray and lustrous, and a pair of square glasses sitting nicely over her eyes.

"Hey… you're the wife of the card story owner, aren't you?" Frederick questioned, having recognized seeing her from one of the times he and Jason went to the card story.

The woman gave a little smile and nodded. "Sophie Tome is my name. Sorry for taking so long. I would have intervened a lot sooner, but I saw the duel that was going on, and I decided to stay back and watch. You both put up an amazing duel. Reminded me of myself back in the old days. Back when La Jinn was one of the best cards in the game. Ohohoh! What a few years will do."

Sophie gave a little nod to herself before she took out her own phone and said, "I just came by to tell you all that my husband is on his way with the police right now. They'll be here in just a few moments."

"You what?!" Both Moe and Joe exclaimed, their jaws almost dropping to the floor upon hearing that.

"Hmhm, yes. My husband and I were just going to check up on the store before we went to bed tonight, to make sure that all of the security measures were still in place. We found the window completely shattered. It was quite the scene to find just before bed, let me tell you."

Jason gave a little nervous chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah… sorry about that. I was trying to get the alarms to go off." he admitted sheepishly.

"Oh, don't worry about that, dearie. We can easily have that window replaced. All that's important is that the thieves are caught, and now they'll get the book thrown at them at last."

"No…! If the police get here and catch us now, that's the end of everything!" Joe shrieked.

Moe looked at Joe, both of them in a complete panic. "Come on, Joe! We have to make our escape now before it's too late!"

Sophie, however, had other plans. "If you young men wouldn't mind…" she started to say to Malcolm and Jason. "Perhaps you could keep these two from going anywhere?"

Both Malcolm and Jason shrugged and went over to keep Moe and Joe in place. In just a matter of seconds, Malcolm wrestled Joe down to the ground, easily able to overpower the criminal. Jason, meanwhile, simply got Moe to the ground before sitting on his back, his weight alone being able to keep the Psyche Brother from going anywhere.

"So then… 'psychic powers' didn't do you too much good here, did they?" Jason questioned in a mocking tone.

Moe, who had stopped struggling at this point, realizing that there was no way out of this, took a few seconds before he began to break down. "We didn't see this coming!" he sobbed as he covered his eyes and cried like a baby, knowing that his run was finally up.

It didn't take much longer for Mr. Tome to arrive with the police. The news outlets arrived shortly after, interviewing one of the officers and the owners of the car shop, while Moe and Joe were being hauled into one of the police cars as Jason, Frederick, Carrie and Malcolm all watched.

"Defeated by a group of college kids… the uncatchable Magic Moe! Defeated by an old woman and her four stooges!" Moe grumbled as he was shoved into the vehicle. "We'll never hear the end of this!"

"Hmph. Well, perhaps you should have decided on a better heist." Malcolm suggested as he crossed his arms. "Stealing a few trading cards from an old couple is hardly anything worth bragging about."

Joe was shoved into the police car, but was able to get some last few words to the group of four. "And my brother and I would have gotten away with it, too! If it wasn't for you meddling mother-" The police had shut the door on him before he could finish.

The group watched the police car drive away with the two criminals inside it, waving them goodbye as they watched. "...Wow… can you believe it?" Jason said as he nodded proudly. "The ones who caught the Psyche Brothers… we're gonna be famous."

Frederick just gave a scoff and a shake of his head. "I'm just glad to know that nobody will have to worry about those two again." he said. "I can only hope now that those two will get whatever they deserve for their crimes."

"Yeah… and speaking of getting what one deserves…" Carrie started as she gestured to the cop that she, Jason and Frederick had talked to back at the card shop coming over to them. "Looks like we're going to be getting that apology we deserve."

"You." the officer said as he walked over. "I told you to stay out of this. What were you thinking? You shouldn't be meddling in our business like this!"

All four of them were taken by surprise by what the officer had said. They were expecting a bit more praise, not scolding. "But… but we just caught Magic Moe and his brother, Joe." Jason reminded. "...We stopped one of the most infamous thieves in this entire city."

"We were dealing with one of the most clever, dangerous thieves we've ever known! Do you understand how much danger you all were putting yourselves in? You could have been seriously hurt! You could have died!"

To this, Malcolm gave a little scoff. "Oh. So now the police force is suddenly concerned for the wellbeing of the citizens, are they?"

"Don't you dare disrespect an officer of the law like that!" the cop barked fiercely.

Malcolm, still not intimidated, simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'm just saying."

"Yeah? Well then let me 'just say' something to you. Loitering, destruction of property, breaking and entering, and not to mention the vigilantism… I could arrest all four of you, right here, right now!"

All four of them looked at each other in shock. Was this really happening? Were they going to be locked up just shortly after stopping the seemingly unstoppable Magic Moe?

"That's enough, officer." Sophie said as she walked over to them, having just finished with an interview. "That's no way to be talking to the ones who caught your criminal, now is it?"

"Ma'am… these four hooligans, in their work of vigilantism, have not only put themselves in danger, but have also broken multiple laws in pursuit of those-"

"If I recall correctly, sir…" Sophie interrupted. "These 'hooligans' just took down someone that you and your police force haven't been able to capture for years. There was danger, but they rose up to the challenge anyway, without any immediate reward in it for them… you and your force could learn a lesson from that in your own work."

The officer took a deep breath in, obviously taking quite a bit of offense in that, but after a few more seconds of silence, he leaned in towards the group of four and spoke very quietly. "If word gets out of what happened here… everyone will have a sense of ineptitude from us in protecting this city." he started to say.

Jason opened his mouth to comment, but Frederick patted his back as a warning to not say anything. He knew that they were probably getting off real easy, so he didn't want to risk saying anything more that could jeopardize that. "You weren't involved with what happened tonight, you understand? You were never here, you never saw Magic Moe or his brother." After making that perfectly clear, he stood straight up again and went back to discuss what was going to happen next, and the procedures that would follow the arrest.

"Hopefully this will serve as a lesson to them to take their job more seriously." Sophie said before turning to the four. "Though he did have a point… while I'm grateful for what you four have done for us, you were still putting yourselves in a lot of unnecessary risk, just to save the business of an old couple… next time, be more cautious about what you decide to do. I would hate to know that such young and lively people got hurt trying to protect us."

Jason gave a little nod. "We understand, ma'am. Don't worry. I think we're done with the whole hero business for a while." he said. "What about your shop, though?"

Sophie gave a hum of thought. "Due to investigations to be done, and the broken window, it'll be a few days before we'll be open for business again. And the items that they managed to get out of the store are being used as evidence, so I'm not sure when or if we'll be getting them back." Sophi started. "It's unfortunate we have to postpone celebrating its 20-year anniversary… but we'll be able to make it work. It's not nearly as bad as it could have been."

"Well, we're glad to hear that." Carrie said. "We really wish the best for both of you. Hopefully nobody will be trying to mess with you any time soon."

"Well… even if they do, I'll know who to call." she joked with a little friendly giggle. "When we do get those rare cards back, I'll let you four know. I'd like you to be the first to get some of the ones that you want. It's the least my husband and I can do for you four."

Frederick gave a smile. "That's very kind of you, Mrs. Tome." he said. "We'll look forward to seeing you in business again."

The group of four walked away from that area, a sense of overwhelming pride in all of them. When they got back to the car, Jason began to recount every detail about that duel, talking like a fanatic meeting his idol for the first time. Malcolm, in his usual way, didn't say very much, but even he couldn't admit that it was a job well done, even if he chalked it up to mostly just luck.

It took only a few minutes before they returned to the university, getting as close to the residents halls as possible. "Well, it was a time and a half, but I think we're done here." Jason said as Carrie and Frederick got out of the car. "I'll talk to you guys tomorrow whenever we get a chance."

As Jason drove away to get himself and Malcolm home, waving at the other two one more time before his vehicle drove out of sight, Carrie gave a little clear of her throat. "Well… it's getting pretty late… I guess we should be getting back to our dorms now."

"Y-yeah… yeah. I guess so." Frederick said as he nodded. "You have a good night, Carrie." he said as he turned to the direction where his residence hall was, and began to walk.

"...Oh, Frederick? One more thing." Carrie said to him, causing Frederick to stop and look back over to her again. "...I… never got a chance to properly thank you back there."

"...Thank me…? For what?" Frederick asked with a scratch of his head. "You were the one who came up with the winning plan."

"You kidding me?" Carrie asked with a scoff. "I was ready to give up after the very first turn… but you showed me to have courage, even in the face of the toughest situations… if it wasn't for you inspiring me to keep going, I probably would have let us lose that duel… so… really, I mean it… thank you."

Frederick gave a little gulp. He was glad that there was quite a bit of distance between the two of them, otherwise Carrie would have seen that his entire face was red as a tomato with blush. "...No problem… I was happy to help… that's what friends are for, right?"

Carrie gave a smile and nodded. "Well… I'll let you go now. See you later, Freddy." She turned around and began to head back to her dorm. Frederick almost called out for her to tell her something, but stopped himself, and let her go on her way.

Frederick didn't walk back to his dorms right away after that, just standing there for a little bit, taking in everything that just happened. They put themselves into this situation, not really having much of a plan, and ended up walking out of it, not just alive, but as heroes. Of course, he couldn't forget that that was partly due to the unexpected arrival of Malcolm into the group. While he was still very cautious around him, he couldn't deny how lucky they were that Jason actually brought him on.

As he finally turned and began to head to his dorms again, he began to talk to himself. "The one who beat Magic Moe and Magic Joe… that's a heck of an accomplishment… maybe one day, they can make an action figure out of me, if anyone finds out… I could be… Frederick, the Mojo Masher!" he said before chuckling his head. "Nah. That's a stupid name… maybe… the 'ESP Exterminator…? Nah, too long… Psychic Stunner…? Those two don't even begin with the same letter." He continued to go over possible hero names all the way back to his dorm, after a triumphant night of work.


	7. Back to the Basics

It was a Friday night, and for Jason and Frederick, that meant their second meeting at the Duel Monster's Club.

The last couple of days that had been leading up to this day were near torture for both Jason and Frederick. Not because of anything bad that had happened throughout said days, but mostly because of how little there was leading up to it. Even days after it happened, both of them were still a little charged up from what had happened just a few nights prior.

Who could really blame them? It wasn't every day that a couple of college students got to help in taking down one of the most elusive criminals of their time, let alone both him and his brother. It was made even worse, mostly for Jason, by the fact that they weren't even allowed to tell anyone about what they had done anyway. Frederick didn't really mind that much. He had a feeling most of the students wouldn't believe them even if they did tell them anyway.

That Friday Night, Frederick and Jason left at around 5:00 this time, both agreeing that they would get something to eat some time after the club, deciding that they would have probably been late, with how much Jason normally ate. They arrived at the university and walked to the hall where the meeting was taking place with ten minutes to spare before the meeting officially started, and the head of the club had opened the room a couple of minutes prior, so they were able to get in right away.

To kill the time, at first they began to look through their Decks together. This club had some really tough duelists in it, so whenever the two were invited to duel any of them, they always made sure that they would be ready for whatever would come their way.

By the time the meeting was about to start, however, and more people were starting to arrive, the conversation instead turned into a dispute about which of the current existing archetypes Frederick and Jason thought were the most broken. It was a very mild argument, neither of them getting angry or aggressive at each other, but they still stuck to their guns throughout the dispute.

"The fact of the matter is that Zoodiacs literally came and broke the rules of an entire type of Monster." Frederick argued. "It's been a set in stone fact beforehand that an XYZ Monster had to be Special Summoned using more than two Monsters of the same Level. Zoodiacs literally allowed a player to make their XYZs with only one Monster, on top of other really strong effects. They were an archetype that never should have existed in the first place."

"Oh, please. Zoodiacs will probably be turned into a gimmick by the time the new rules come into play." Jason responded. "Dragon Rulers are the real face of nonsense in the game. With how pathetically easy they were to bring out, and the fact that they just loved to make that God damned Big Eye XYZ… the fact that they all had those hard once per turn clauses, and still did so much… there's a reason why every single one of the big Dragon Ruler Monsters were banned."

"All but one of them now." one of the other club members reminded, as he had been listening quite intently to the disagreement between the two friends. "Remember? They unbanned Tempest in one of the more recent Banlists, and it's still sitting in the Limited List right now."

"Yeah, and they probably think he's not a problem, because all of his buddies are still banned." Jason said with a scoff. "You just watch. Once they decide to unban all of the Dragon Rulers, now that they got their Super Rejuvenation card back as well, they'll probably start screwing the entire game up again until they put them back on the banlist for good."

"Come on. By the time the new rules come out, Dragon Rulers, and more than likely many other meta decks, will probably be pushed out of the spotlight by the changes and more powerful cards." Frederick said before chuckling and crossing his arms. "I'm telling you, their only answer to trying to make busted archetypes less powerful is to make future archetypes faster and stronger, until even the most broken cards can't keep up anymore."

"Well, that's why erratas are a thing. To make sure that they don't have to keep doing that for every single card that makes it on the banlist." The other member said with a shrug.

Jason simply gave a little grumble. "Never let me hear you say anything defending erratas again." he growled a bit under his breath.

Before the conversation could go on and take another turn over the existence of erratas, the head of the club stepped to the front of the room to get things started. "Attention, duelists!" he called out in a mocking, playful voice that got everyone's attention. "I thank you all for being so patient, but we are now ready to begin with our planned activities for the night."

Everyone sat in their assigned seats and looked up to the head of the club. He was a bit older than most of the other members. He was a very jolly man, and was very passionate about the game of Duel Monsters. He always wanted to make sure everyone was able to enjoy themselves while playing.

"As you all are aware, we originally planned to have a small tournament here tonight, with some of the rare cards being offered at the card shop as prizes for the highest placing duelists." he announced. "...Unfortunately, due to the recent situation that happened there, we were not able to get ahold of these prizes, and will have to postpone the tournament until further notice."

The room immediately sounded with the chorus of disappointed groans and sighs. Everyone there was disappointed to hear that, as they were all looking forward to that tournament, but they also understood why they had to postpone it for the moment.

"To think that someone would be so desperate for some good cards that they would actually rob a small business like that." one of the other members grumbled. "At least both of them are heading off to prison now."

Another member nodded in agreement and said, "To think that after so many years of incompetence and barely doing anything in these parts, the police were not only able to catch Magic Moe, but also a brother of his that was working in the background. Guess it can really pay if they take things seriously after all."

Yet another member, who was sitting just in front of Jason and Frederick, crossed her arms and said, "Rubbish. They couldn't stop a kid stealing a candy bar if it happened right in front of their station. I've heard that there was some outside help on their side, and now they're just too embarrassed to admit to that."

While the side discussions were being had, Frederick and Jason just looked at each other with a smirk and fist bumped each other. It might not have been the outward knowledge of what they had done, but they would still take it.

"Yes, yes. I understand your disappointment. I'm just as disappointed as all of you." the head of the club said. He then gave an optimistic smile and said, "However, from what the owners have said, they should be able to open relatively soon, so we should be able to have the tournament within good time. With that being said, however, tonight, I still have something planned for anyone to participate in, if they're interested."

He walked a little to what was normally the professor's desk, and gestured to a small container that was there, filled to the brim with booster packs. "Here in this container, we have an assortment of packs. Most of them are Legacy Packs, including Legend of Blue-Eyes, Metal Raiders, Pharaoh's Servant, Invasion of Chaos, and Spell Rulers. There are also a couple of Mega Packs hidden away in there, if anyone is adventurous enough to search for them."

He then opened up a folder and took out a whole handful of quizzes that were two pages long, front and back. "These packs are what I offer in reward for these. These quizzes will test some of your knowledge of the card game. It's nothing too hard, just a few questions to see if you know what certain cards do, what the rulings are, and what cards would be good for certain situations. These quizzes are by no means required to be done, so you can do your own thing if you don't want to participate. If you do participate, you'll be rewarded with a pack of your choosing, regardless of how well you did, and can earn more depending on how well you did."

He picked up the container of packs and set them right next to where he would be sitting, just to make sure nobody had any funny ideas, and set the quizzes on the desk for the club members to take if they chose to. "And that's what we have planned for tonight. Feel free to duel to your heart's content after the quiz if you do it. Let me know if any of you want to duel me, or have any questions."

With that, he sat down at the teacher's desk and began to work on something on the computer. While a few of the club members immediately went to the dueling, deciding that they didn't care much for a few packs, a majority of the members, Jason and Frederick included, decided to take the quiz to try to earn some good cards, much to the head of the club's delight.

Both Frederick and Jason were working on their quizzes, each of them struggling with a particular area of their own. For Jason, most of his trouble came from the question of rulings, while for Frederick, he had a tough time deciding which cards would be best to have in a certain situation.

As they were getting close to finishing their quizzes, they heard the door suddenly opening, accompanied by heavy, tired breathing. When they both looked up at the door, they saw someone that they had never seen before. He was quite small, standing no more than five feet tall, if even that, and had a bookbag that appeared to be very full, bulging out in a couple of spots. His hair was long and wavy, and a dull brown color.

The head of the club looked up at the person who just walked in, giving a little hum as he didn't recognize him, and checking on the computer to see if there was anybody new for the club tonight. "Ahh. You must be Joel. Joel Bulus, right?"

"Yeah… that's me." Joel said as he panted, obviously quite tired from having run to the room. "Sorry for being late… I got a little lost." His voice was quite timid, and he was very soft spoken. This, added to his relatively short height, almost gave the impression of a child, rather than a growing adult.

"That's alright. We've never been too picky about latecomers in our club. If you want to do that quiz over on the desk, you can get a pack of your choosing just for doing it, and can win more depending on how you do… so, yeah. Just take a seat wherever you'd like."

Joel gave a little nervous gulp and nodded, taking a quiz with him as he decided to sit at the end of the table that Frederick and Jason were sitting at. Both Jason and Frederick looked at each other, smiling and nodding before they went back to finishing their quizzes.

It took Frederick about five minutes before he finished his, being one of the earlier members to finish and hand it in. For Jason, it took about ten minutes.

As for Joel, he was one of the last people to turn in their quizzes. After turning it in and sitting back down, he looked around at the rest of the people in the club. He wanted to approach someone, to see if he could make a friend while he was there. That was the whole point of being in a club, after all, but he was too nervous, and he wasn't sure whether or not they would appreciate whatever questions he had.

With a little sigh, he went back into his bookbag and began to rummage through it, looking for something in particular.

After a few seconds, however, he felt like he was being watched. He turned his head up to the left, and looked and saw Jason and Frederick sitting there, talking amongst themselves. Thinking that he was just going nuts, he went back to digging through all of the stuff he had in there.

A couple seconds later, he had that feeling again. He looked up once again, and saw Jason and Frederick still conversing with each other. Only this time, he felt like they were… a little closer. He could have sworn that they were sitting a seat or two further down the first time he looked up at them… but he once again dismissed it, thinking he must have just not noticed how far away they really were the first time, and began to rummage through the bag once again.

He looked up once again, but this time, instead of just having a feeling of being watched this time, he was set off by the sound of seats shifting and someone sitting down right next to him. When he looked back up once again, he saw Jason sitting right next to him with a smile, Frederick being right behind him. "Hey. How ya doin'?" Jason asked in a friendly manner.

Joel was a bit taken aback by what was going on. He might have been more initially overjoyed to have someone talking to him, if the way they went about approaching him wasn't so… creepy. "...Uhhh… I'm… not doing too bad…" he said. "...Can I help you?

"Your name to start with, if that isn't too hard." Frederick joked with a chuckle. "Here. We'll give you ours first. I'm Frederick. Frederick Calverson, though some of my friends just call me 'Fred' or 'Freddy'. This is my best friend, Jason Titan."

Joel was silent for a few seconds before giving a little smile. Despite how creepy their approach was, they didn't seem like too bad of guys at all. "Nice to meet you both… I'm Joel… Joel Bulus."

"Nice to meet you too, Joel." Jason said with a nod. "You're gonna love it here. This club is full of really cool people, and most of them are really good duelists. You'll be able to learn a lot from this club."

"R-really…? So… you two have been here for quite a while, then?"

"Well, this is only our second week of being members, honestly." Frederick answered with a chuckle. "But we've been playing the game for quite some time. How about you? How long have you been into Duel Monsters?"

"Oh… well…" Joel started, scratching the back of his head a bit in embarrassment. "...Honestly, I'm just getting into the game now… I started collecting cards when I was four-years old… but I never really had anyone that I could play them with, except for my brother… and… well, I never really could beat him, so I never really bothered all that much after a while. It's not fun to play something if you can do nothing but lose, you know?"

"Understandable. Had an episode of that in my time as well." Jason said before grinning a little bit. "Hey. You must have some cards if you're here, right? How about we duel right here and now, see what you got?"

Joel looked down nervously as soon as Jason suggested that. "Uhhh… no… I don't think that's a very good idea."

"What's the matter?" Jason questioned. "I'm not going to go too rough, if that's what you're afraid of. I can take things nice and slow, if you want."

"No. It's not that." Joel said, taking in a deep breath in, really hesitant to tell Jason what the problem was. "...It's just… well… I actually… don't know how to play."

"You don't know how to play?" Frederick questioned. "But you said a little bit ago that you dueled your brother and could never beat him."

"Well… yeah, I kind of did. But… we never really knew the rules. We just played based on what little we've seen, or we just made up our own rules as we went along."

"Oh, I see… so you need to also learn the actual rules of how to play… well, they say experience is the best teacher, don't they? Come on, take your Deck out. We'll duel and teach you along the way."

"Y-you mean it? You really don't mind if I get a couple of things wrong?"

"Of course not. We all have to start at some point, and it's never a bad thing to have questions or be unsure of things. Mistakes are made to learn from, after all." Jason reassured.

"Oh… w-well… that's great. I'd love to!" Joel beamed. "Oh… but I don't have a duel disk of my own yet… I-I have a couple of playmats, though, if you don't mind using those instead."

"That's fine. We don't really use duel disks unless for bigger duels here in the club anyway." Jason answered. "With the holograms and how hectic things can get from them, they're a bit too intrusive during casual play, you know?"

Joel nodded in understanding and began to fish for the playmats in his bookbag. After digging them out, he pulled two of them out, handing one to Jason. It was a very old, worn down mat, having no real unique design aside from its simplicity. It had a top half and a bottom half, each having a total of seven zones on it, for a total of fourteen, and was folded up so that it appeared to be only one zone.

When Jason unfolded his, he got to have a good look at the old playmat, and see what it was all about. It had the specific zone names on each of the Zones in white letters, so beginner duelists would know what the zones are and what goes on them. The top half had the Field Spell Zone, Monster Zones and Graveyard, while the bottom contained the Extra Deck Zone, Spell/Trap Zone and Deck Zone The mat was so old that the Extra Deck Zone was referred to as the "Fusion Deck Zone" on it.

"Wow... " Jason said in admiration with a nod as he unfolded it and put it on the table. "This is the OG mat right here. I haven't seen one of these babies in a long time."

"Yeah… sorry if they're a bit old. They're the only ones I have." Joel said as he unfolded his own playmat and put it down so that it was a few inches away from Jason's on the other side of the table, taking a seat from the table in front of them and sitting across from Jason.

"They'll do perfectly fine. We won't be doing anything too fancy in this duel anyway." Jason said as he took out his Deck and shuffled it before putting it on the Deck Zone. "I almost feel like I'm in elementary school again, playing the game like this. Really takes me back."

"Yeah… l-let me get my Deck now." Joel said as he began to rummage through his bookbag again.

As they watched him search for his Deck, Frederick patted Jason a bit on the shoulder before speaking quietly to him. "Try not to go too hard on him, alright? We don't need to be scaring him out of playing the game, alright?"

"Ah, relax. I'll take things nice and slow for him." Jason said with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "I hate quick duels anyway. You know that."

They looked back at Joel, watching as he finally pulled out a tin that was full of cards. He opened the tin, and took the whole stack of cards that were in there, and put them in the Deck Zone. "Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick!" Jason exclaimed in shock. There were enough cards in that pile to make up at least three decks.

Joel gave a flinch in reaction to Jason's outburst. "What? Is something wrong?"

Frederick and Jason both stared at the stack of cards for a while before Frederick cleared his throat and spoke. "Uhhhh… Joel… you're… not allowed to have that many cards in your Deck." he explained. "A Deck is only allowed to have between forty to sixty cards. No less than forty, no more than sixty."

"Oh… really…? I wasn't aware that I wasn't supposed to have more than sixty cards." Joel admitted sheepishly.

"Well… originally, you were allowed to have any number of cards in your Deck, as long as you had more than forty… but the story goes that some jerk messed that up by bringing a Deck with over two thousand cards… and totally abused it by having as many cards that would require him to shuffle the Deck as possible. Needless to say, the Deck Limit was implemented soon after to make sure nobody could do that again."

"Yeah… leave it to some jerk to have to abuse something like that." Jason said with a shake of his head. "Most people tend to run forty in their Decks anyway. In most circumstances, having too many cards in your Deck can lead to more difficulty getting the cards you want."

"Good to know." Joel stammered as he took a handful of cards from the top of his stack. He took a moment or two to put any Monsters that would go in the Extra Deck Zone in their appropriate zone, taking out any cards from the remaining cards as needed until he had only forty left. He shuffled those forty cards and put them on the Deck Zone, while putting the rest back in the tin.

"Alright. Let's see what you've got." Jason said as he drew his starting Hand, to which Joel followed his lead, drawing until he had a starting Hand of five cards. "Since you're just starting off, I'll let you go first."

"Right." Joel said as he looked at his Deck. "So… I get to draw at the start of my turn, right?"

"Well… yes, but not on the first turn if you're going first." Frederick explained. "They changed the rules a couple years or so back, so now the person who goes first doesn't get to draw on their first turn."

"Oh… alright." he said as he looked at the cards in his Hand. "Well… in that case, I'll go ahead and Summon Yaranzo in Defense Mode." he said as he put his Yaranzo card on the Monster Zone sideways. When he looked up, however, he saw Jason frowning a little bit. "...Did I screw something up again?"

"Well…" Jason started to say. "...You're actually not allowed to Normal Summon in face-up Defense Position… you can only Normal Summon them in face-up Attack Position, or Set them in face-down Defense Position."

"Wait… really?" Joel asked, genuinely confused. "...But I've seen other people summon in Defense Mode all of the time."

"Yeah, I've seen that too… but… people really aren't supposed to be allowed to do that. There's a certain card that kind of forces you to do it if it's in play, but…" Jason gave a little shrug. "...It's not really that big of a deal though."

"Well… I still want to be playing legitimately." Joel said as he took his card and flipped it face-down. "There… and… uhhh… I guess I don't have anything else I can do. I end my turn."

"Well… alright. Guess it's my move." Jason said as he drew his card, looking at his Hand and humming in thought. "For my turn… I'll Normal Summon my Messenger of Pure Chaos. When she's Normal Summoned while I control no other Pure Chaos Monsters, I get to add one Pure Chaos Ritual Monster or one Chaotic Ritual from my Deck to my Hand. I'll go ahead and Chaotic Ritual to my Hand." He showed the card he was adding to his Hand before putting it in, and shuffling his Deck.

"Woah… Pure Chaos Monsters?" Joel asked. "I've never heard of anything like those before."

"A lot of people here seem to haven't." Jason replied with a shrug before chuckling, absentmindedly continuing to shuffle his Deck as he spoke. "Kind of funny, actually. Some people on the campus seem to believe that I made these cards on my own, and that I'm cheating by using them. Yeah. Like I'm gonna be able to do something as idiotic as that."

"If a lot of people don't know about them, they must be really rare cards then… if you don't mind me asking… where did you get those cards?"

Jason gave a little hum as he looked up in thought. "...I got them back when I was much younger… only a couple of years old, as a matter of fact, before I even started getting into the game. My mother gave them to me." He finally finished shuffling his Deck and put it back down before pointing to Joel's face-down Yaranzo. "I… guess I'll just have my Messenger of Pure Chaos destroy your Yaranzo, and call it a turn."

Joel nodded and put his Yaranzo in the Graveyard before drawing a card. "Well… that's nice of your mother to give you her cards… was she really into the game as well, when she was younger?"

Jason actually started to snicker a bit, almost going into full blown laughing after Joel had said that. The latter of them was a bit shocked at first at this, and began to wonder if he had just said something foolish.

"Sorry. Sorry. Not laughing at you." Jason clarified before clearing his throat. "...Just kind of find it funny that you ask that. My mother doesn't know a damn thing about this game. Trust me. I even asked her about it several times after she gave me these cards. She wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the Standby Phase and the End Phase." He began to really laugh now, just imagining his mother trying to play the game.

"She… doesn't know how to play… so then… why would she have those cards in the first place if she doesn't duel?" Joel asked.

Jason simply gave a little shrug and responded with, "Don't really know. I tried asking her that myself when I was old enough to realize that. All she would ever tell me is that these cards would protect me one day… no idea what she was talking about, though. I just kind of assumed she meant they would pull through for me in these duels…?" He shrugged it off before clearing his throat. "Anyway, it's… it's your turn, Joel."

"Oh. Right. Sorry." Joel said as he looked at his hand and gave a hum before placing one Monster face-down. "I'll just set this Monster… and… I guess that's it."

"Alright. Then I'm going to draw." Jason said as he drew his next card. "And… I guess first things first, I'll have my Messenger attack your face-down Monster."

Joel gave a little smile and flipped the attacked Monster face-up. "Unfortunately for you, the Monster you tried to attack is my Dragon Piper." he said. "It's got 200 more Defense Points than your Monster's Attack Points."

"Agh. Yeah, you're right." Jason said as he looked down onto the table, suddenly realizing something as he looked around, remembering that they didn't have any Life Points displayed. "Uhhhh… Fred? Think you can-"

"Already way ahead of you." Frederick said as he took out a piece of paper and a pencil, writing 8000 on both sides of the paper before subtracting 200 from the left side, putting Jason's new Life Points to 7800.

Jason gave a nod and looked at his Hand, scratching his chin in thought. "Well… if I don't Set or Summon anything, I'll have to discard a card during my End Phase, so… I'll just set this card face-down in my Spell/Trap Zone, and call it a turn."

"Hold on a minute… you said that you would have to discard a card if you didn't Set anything… how come?" Joel asked.

"Hand size limit." Frederick explained. "You're only allowed to have a maximum of six cards in your Hand by the time your turn ends. At the End Phase of your turn, if you have more than six, you have to discard one."

"Ohhh… alright… uhhh… I guess it's my turn then." Joel said as he drew his card. "Alright… I think I can do this… I'm going to Tribute my Dragon Piper… in order to Summon my Leogun in Attack Mode." He took his Dragon Piper off the Field and put it in the Graveyard, replacing it with the Leogun in his Hand.

"Heh. Wow. Leogun too?" Jason asked. "Dang. You really got all of the old school cards, huh?"

"Well, he did say he started collecting back when he was much younger." Frederick reminded.

"Yeah… so… I'm going to use my Leogun to attack and destroy your Messenger of Pure Chaos." Joel said as he pointed to Jason's Monster. Jason gave a little nod as he took his Monster and put it in the Graveyard, Frederick being sure to dock him another 150 Life Points. "Uhhhh… I guess that's that… I end my turn."

"Then I guess it's my turn." Jason said as he drew his next card. "First, I'll activate the ability of my Pure Chaos Dragon. If he's in my Hand, I can send him to the Graveyard, in order to pick any Spellcaster from my Deck and add it to my Hand. And I already know which one I'm going to pick." He took his Deck out, choosing the card he was looking for and showed it to Joel. "This right here. Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos." He shuffled his Deck and took his Hand, and put one Monster face-down. "And that's my turn."

"Alright. Then it's my turn. And I think…" Joel started to say before nodding and putting another Monster in Attack Mode. "I'm going to be Summoning Overdrive."

"Woah. Overdrive, huh?" Jason questioned as he got a close look at the card, seeming quite curious about it, despite it not being anything special. "'_An all-terrain armored vehicle armed with a heavy-duty machine gun'_, huh?" He looked at Frederick and gave a little chuckle. "You should probably try running this card, Freddy. Would go well with the whole army thing you've got going on."

"I'm more impressed that this card didn't get censored more than anything." Frederick commented with a shrug. "With how hellbent they've been in censoring most card arts that have a gun in them, I didn't think a machine with a literal gun mounted on it would make it unedited."

Jason gave a little chuckle and a shrug before turning back to Joel. "Sorry about that. It's still your move, right?"

"Y-yeah… and… I think I'm going to have my Overdrive attack and destroy your face-down Monster."

"Well… you were right about one of those things." Jason said with a chuckle as he flipped the Monster face-up. "Because your Overdrive just attacked the Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos that I added to my Hand from my Pure Chaos Dragon's effect."

"Really?" Joel asked as he got a closer look at the card. It was a Level 1 LIGHT Spellcaster-Type with 0 ATK and 0 DEF. "But… this Monster has no Defense Points at all. My Overdrive has 1600."

"Maybe so, but what it does have is a special ability." Jason explained. "You see, while Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos, is the only Monster that I currently control, it can't be destroyed by battle. It's a nice little option for when you're backed in a corner, and need to stall out for a turn or two to get a plan running."

"Oh… so I guess it doesn't even matter if Leogun attacks now. Thanks to your Soul's special ability, he won't be able to destroy it either."

"Nope. My Soul is completely safe from your attacks… well… as long as I don't have any other Monsters on the Field, that is."

"Oh… well… I guess I have no choice but to end my turn here."

"Alrighty. In that case, it's my move." Jason drew his card before looking at Joel with a little smile. "Alright, Joel. We're not going to get much of anywhere if I keep holding back all of my punches. So how about I start fighting back a little bit?"

Joel gave a little nervous gulp. "R-really…? You're gonna start playing harder now? I don't think I'm ready for that…"

"Don't worry. I'm not going to try to do anything too crazy. Just going to start pushing back on you a little bit, see if you can respond." Jason explained. "Now, I'm going to summon my Pure Chaos Dragon Whelp. While I control a face-up Spellcaster-Type Monster on my side of the Field, my Dragon Whelp is treated as a Level 8 Monster, which is just perfect, thanks to this handy card I've had face-down for a while now." After saying this, he flipped the card he had put on the Field a couple turns ago face-up. "I'm activating my Chaotic Ritual."

"Heh. You say you won't do anything too crazy as you activate that card?" Frederick joked. "Come on, Jason. What part of don't scare him out of the game don't you understand?"

"Relax. I've only got one of my weaker Ritual Monsters in here right now. He'll be able to find a way around it." Jason assured as he took the two Monsters on his Field. "Thanks to my Chaotic Ritual, I'm allowed to Ritual Summon a Pure Chaos Ritual Monster, as long as I send from my Hand, Field or Deck, at least two Monsters, with at least one being LIGHT and at least one being DARK, whose Level are higher than or equal to the Level of the Ritual Monster. Thanks to my Pure Chaos Dragon Whelp's ability making it Level 8 while it's still on the Field, sending him and Soul to my Graveyard give me a Level of 9, one higher than what's required for this Monster."

He sent his Monsters to the Graveyard before taking one card out of his Hand. "Kind of a shame we don't have holograms right now. It would be sweet to see this card up close and personal. I Ritual Summon my Manipulator of Pure Chaos." He placed his Ritual Monster onto the Field. It was a Level 8 DARK Spellcaster-Type with 2500 ATK and 2500 DEF.

"I don't like the sounds of that 'Manipulator' part of her name… what does she do?" Joel asked.

"Glad you asked." Jason answered with a smile as he took a card in his Hand, being his Pure Chaos Spirit Drake, and put it into the Graveyard. "Just as the name implies, by discarding any Pure Chaos Monster from my Hand, I can target any one Monster you control, and take control of that Monster while my Manipulator remains on the Field."

"You can what?!" Joel shrieked a bit in shock. "Th-that's a really powerful effect!"

"Maybe. Luckily for you, I can only take control of one Monster at a time with her effect, so I can't go too wild and take control of your entire Monster line-up. But what I can do is take control of… Leogun." Joel gave a little grumble as he handed Jason the card. "I now move onto my Battle Phase. I'll start by attacking your Overdrive with my Manipulator of Pure Chaos."

Joel sighed as he put his Monster into the Graveyard, Frederick docking Joel for his first 900 Life Points. "Now that she's destroyed a Monster you control by battle, my Manipulator of Pure Chaos allows me to fetch any Spell or Trap card from my Deck or Graveyard, as long as that card specifically mentions "Pure Chaos" in its effect. Using this effect, I'll fetch my Chaotic Ritual back from my Graveyard." He took the used Ritual Card and put it back into his Hand. "Now, Leogun will attack you directly."

Joel gave a little grumble as his Life Points were put down to 5350. "Alright. I'll go ahead and place a card face-down to end my turn. Your go, Joel."

"Alright… I draw… I'm not going to be able to defeat your Manipulator of Pure Chaos with a Monster, at least at this level… but I can at least keep her slowed down for a while." Joel said as he played a Spell Card. "I equip your Manipulator with the Paralyzing Potion. While this card is equipped to a non-Machine Monster, that Monster can't attack."

"Good thinking. While she still remains on the Field, using your Paralyzing Potion allows you to minimize the damage she can do to you, unless I'm able to get rid of your Spell Card."

"Well… it's probably not that huge of a play." Joel said modestly, though it was clear that he liked the praise. "Uhhh… I'll just set one Monster face-down and end my turn."

"Very well then. I can't really do much of anything with my Manipulator of Pure Chaos… but I still got the power of your Leogun to work with." Jason said as he drew another card. "I'll have him attack your face-down Monster."

Joel gave a little groan and nodded as he sent his Monster to the Graveyard. "Sorry, Frog the Jam."

Upon seeing the Monster be sent to the Graveyard, Jason gave a little happy cheer and clapped a bit as he laughed, surprising Frederick and getting the attention of some of the other people there. Joel gave a little blush of embarrassment, not really sure what Jason was finding so funny, and feeling a bit nervous with everyone looking at him like that.

"Hoohoo, my man! OG Frog the Jam right there!" Jason said after calming down a little bit. "Didn't think you'd actually have it, dude. That's freaking awesome."

"Uhhh… I'm sorry. I… don't know what the big deal is." Joel said with a confused scratch of his head.

"It's… nothing." Frederick responded with a little chuckle. "See, Frog the Jam is one of Jason's favorite meme cards. He still thinks that it was an insult to the game that its name was changed to Slime Toad later on in the game, because a lot of cards in the Frog archetype had to have their effects specify, '...except Frog the Jam' for a while now, due to Frog the Jam not really being a part of the Frog Archetype."

"Oh… that's… interesting." Joel wasn't really sure how to respond to that, and instead simply drew his next card. "Uhhhh… let's see here…" He looked back at the Monster on Jason's Field and the four cards Joel still had in his Hand before looking back to the cards in his Extra Deck. "Oh… oh! I can actually do something against this!" he chirped excitedly.

"Oh, really?" Jason asked with a little raise of his eyebrow. "Then let's see what you got."

"Alright… I hope this works." Joel said as he took a card from his Hand and played it. "I'm activating the Spell Card, Polymerization!"

"Hooh, doggie. He's got a Fusion Monster up his sleeve!" Jason exclaimed with a nod. "Things are about to get really interesting."

"Now, with my Polymerization, I fuse my Hyosube and Mystic Lamp from my Hand." Joel discarded two of his remaining cards, so that only one remained in his Hand. "By doing so, I'm allowed to Fusion Summon one of my strongest Monsters. My Roaring Ocean Snake!" He took the Roaring Ocean Snake out of his Extra Deck and put it onto the Field.

"Nice. The old Fusion Monsters always had some of the strangest Fusion Materials. Not sure how you get that thing from a lamp and a turtle Monster."

Frederick rolled his eyes and whispered to Jason, "Hyosube are a creature from Japanese folklore."

"Yeah. And I'm supposed to know that off the top of my head?" Jason whispered back before looking back to Joel. "Nice play, man, but you do realize your Roaring Ocean Snake is still 400 points short against my Manipulator of Pure Chaos. You can destroy Leogun if you want, but then, since the Monster that Manipulator took control of will be on the Field no longer, I'll have a free spot for a Monster on your side of the Field that I can take control of on my next turn."

"Not anymore. Not thanks to my Stim-Pack." Joel said as he put his final card down on the Field. "By equipping this card to my Roaring Ocean Snake, I can increase its Attack Points by 700. Of course, I'll have to sacrifice 200 of those points during each of my Standby Phases, but one turn with 2800 is more than enough to take care of your Monster. I'll have my Roaring Ocean Snake attack your Manipulator of Pure Chaos!"

"Quite the risky Equip Card." Jason said as he gave a nod to Frederick, who deducted 300 of his Life Points. Instead of sending his Manipulator of Pure Chaos to the Graveyard, however, he took Joel's Leogun card, and put it into Joel's Graveyard instead.

"Uhhhh… Jason…? I attacked your Manipulator… not Leogun."

"That may be so, but my Manipulator of Pure Chaos has a small amount of protection while she has a Monster under her spell. If she were to be destroyed by battle or by card effect while a Monster of yours is under my control because of her effect, I destroy the Monster I've taken control of instead."

"Oh man… so now your Manipulator of Chaos can still take over my Roaring Ocean Snake on your turn?"

"That's right. Well… if I have a Pure Chaos Monster to discard to do so, that is." Jason answered as he drew his next card. He looked at it and gave a bit of a frown. "...Luckily for you, though, it doesn't seem I have anything I'm willing to discard…" He took his Manipulator of Pure Chaos and switched it into Defense Mode. "I switch my Manipulator into Defense Mode, then I'll place one card face-down and end my turn."

"In that case, it's my turn. I draw." Joel said as he drew his card. "And now, my Roaring Ocean Snake loses 200 Attack Points thanks to Stim-Pack, but 2600 is still enough to take on your Manipulator. My Roaring Ocean Snake will attack and destroy your Monster!"

Jason gave a little nod. "By destroying my Manipulator of Pure Chaos, however, you've triggered the ability of my Pure Chaos Dragon in my Graveyard. If a Pure Chaos Ritual Monster is removed from the Field, I can Special Summon my Pure Chaos Dragon from my Graveyard. So now, you have to deal with 3000 Attack Points instead of just 2500."

"Oh man… no matter how I try to deal with these Pure Chaos Monsters, they always seem to be able to come back…" Joel mumbled under his breath. "I'll just set a Monster in face-down Defense Mode and end my turn."

"Then I guess it's my turn." Jason said as he drew his next card, nodding approvingly of what he saw. "Alright. Let's try something a little different. I'm going to be Summoning my second Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos, to the Field."

Joel looked confused as he brought the Monster out in Attack Mode. "But… that Monster has no Attack Points at all… and since you have another Monster on your side of the Field, it can be destroyed by battle."

"Exactly. That's what I'm banking on. Now, I'll move onto my Battle Phase." Jason pointed at his Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos and pointed at Roaring Ocean Snake. "I'll have my Soul attack your Roaring Ocean Snake. Since your Roaring Ocean Snake has 2600 Attack Points, and Soul has none, my Monster is destroyed."

Frederick and Joel were both confused as Jason took his Monster and put it in the Graveyard, but Frederick shrugged a little bit and brought Jason's Life Points down to 5050.

"But… I don't understand. Is this some attempt to try to give me a bit more of a fighting chance?" Joel asked. "Why would you attack my Roaring Ocean Snake with such a weaker Monster?"

"Because by doing so, I've just triggered the ability of another Monster in my Hand." Jason explained with a little grin. "You see, in order to activate this effect, I have to have a LIGHT Pure Chaos Monster of mine be destroyed, either by battle or by your card effect. Since I've fulfilled that requirement, I can Special Summon my Pure Chaos Storm Drake from my Hand." He placed his Monster down on the Field; a Level 8 DARK Dragon-Type with 3000 ATK and 0 DEF.

"Another Dragon with 3000 Attack Points?!" Joel exclaimed in shock. "That was an insane strategy! Losing so many Life Points, but getting such a powerful Monster in return!"

"Not really that insane, honestly. I'm by far not the first to try something like this." Jason responded simply with a shrug. "But now, since he was Special Summoned by his own effect, my Pure Chaos Storm Drake's ability kicks in. When Special Summoned by his own effect, he allows me to destroy any number of cards on your side of the Field, up to the number of LIGHT Pure Chaos Monsters currently in my Graveyard. And last I checked, with my two Souls currently in there, I have two LIGHT Monsters."

Joel gave a little gulp as he realized what that meant. "And I only have two Monsters to protect me…"

"Which means that my Storm Drake can cleave your defenses away in one fell swoop with his ability." Jason watched as Joel put his two Monsters and his Spell Card to the Graveyard. "And with nothing in your Hand or Field to protect you, I think you know what happens next. My Pure Chaos Dragon and Pure Chaos Storm Drake attack you directly for game."

Joel gave a little nod and looked down a bit as Frederick deducted the last of Frederick's Life Points. Jason gave a little smile. "Don't be too down on yourself, man. You fought pretty well in that duel."

"Yeah… thanks, but I know you're just saying that to make me feel better." Joel responded, giving a little bit of a smile. "You were really taking it easy on me, weren't you? Those cards of yours seem really powerful… all my cards are mostly really old cards that aren't all that good anymore."

"Maybe so… but that doesn't mean all of your cards are worthless. After all, you did just take the top few cards from your big stack of cards, and tried to make those into a Deck. If you really took the time to look through those cards and build a Deck that works with itself, you'd be having a much easier time." Upon saying this, he had an idea. "Hey… that's it! Frederick. Come on over here. Let's look through Joel's cards and help him build a Deck out of them."

"Really?" Joel asked, his face lighting up as they said that. "You would really help me like that?"

"Of course, we would. After all, everyone should be able to enjoy Duel Monsters one way or another. And if it can help you enjoy the game more at all, we'll be happy to help."

"That's…. that's awesome! Thank you so much!"

And for the rest of the meeting of the club, Frederick and Jason sat down, going through all of the cards that Frederick had collected over the years, and were trying to decide what would work good in a Deck for him. They asked him a couple of questions from time to time, such as what kind of style of play did he want to go for, if there was any Attribute or Monster Type in particular that he wanted to play with, and some occasional check ups to see what he thought of a certain card being added to his Deck.

"Man. This really takes me back to when we first started the game." he said before looking at Frederick. "Hey, Freddy. What was your very first Deck that you got? Did you always use those Figure cards of yours?"

"Well… honestly, it's been so long, I can't really remember what my first Deck was…" Frederick started. "...But if I had to venture a guess… I'd say that my first real Deck was the Warrior's Triumph Structure Deck. I've always had a thing for Warriors, as you could probably see from my Figure Deck." He looked up at Jason with a curious raise of his eyebrow. "What about you, Jason? You ever use any other Decks aside from that Pure Chaos one?"

"That's a good question. The Pure Chaos one was the one I almost always used, since it was the first cards my mother ever got for me…" Jason began to answer. "...But I did have a couple of Decks aside from that. The first one I ever got that wasn't my Pure Chaos Deck is the Blaze of Destructions Structure Deck."

To this, Frederick began to snicker quite a bit. "Alright. How the heck do you go from LIGHT and DARK Dragons and Spellcasters to FIRE Monsters?"

"I was trying to put a bit of variety to how I played and what I played." Jason said with a scoff as he went back to looking through the cards, putting whatever cards he thought could work on a slowly growing pile while putting the others back in Joel's case. "Besides, I always liked FIRE as an Attribute as well. If I were to use a Deck that wasn't my Pure Chaos Deck, I would probably bust the old Infernal Flame Emperor out, and try to do some…"

Jason trailed off as he looked at a specific card that he had just found in the pile. "...Hey, Joel. Where did you get this card." he said as he pointed to it.

Joel looked over to see what card Jason was talking about. "Oh, My Copycat?" he questioned. "I got it in a booster pack a few years ago… I've had it for a while, but I've never really been able to find much use of it myself."

"Is that so…?" Jason continued to look at the card, nodding to himself a little bit as he had a bit of an idea. "...Well, if you don't think you're going to be using it still… would you mind trading this card?"

Joel was taken by surprise by this offer as Jason reached into his bookbag and took out a card that was in a protective sleeve. "I've got here a really powerful Spell Card called Raigeki. Upon just being activated, it destroys all Monsters your opponent controls. It's an old card, but it still remains one of the most powerful cards in the game to this day." He put the card down next to the Copycat. "I offer you this card in exchange for that Copycat."

"Y… you would really give me this card… just in exchange for my Copycat? You're sure about that?" Joel asked. "I wouldn't want to take away such a powerful card from you…"

Jason gave a smile and shrugged before responding with, "I've actually got a number of those cards. That's what happens when you're looking for a certain card in a tin, and can't get it."

Upon hearing this, Joel lit up again as he looked at the Spell Card he was being offered. "Alright! Deal!" he happily said as he and Jason shook each other's hands and took their appropriate card. "I'll be able to use this card in my Deck for sure. Thank you."

"Thank you for being willing to trade. This card will come in good use." Jason replied with a smile.

By the time that it was time for the club to disperse for the night, Frederick and Jason had managed to build Joel a more usable Deck out of the cards that he had available to him. Joel was a bit disappointed that he didn't get to test out his new Deck right there on the spot, but Jason and Frederick both gave him their contact information and got his, so that if he ever wanted to hang out with them, they could arrange that.

As Frederick and Jason left that hall, Jason was still holding his newly traded Copycat card in his hand, still having not put it in his Deck, or in any case for protection. They also had in their hands the booster packs that they had gotten from the quizzes. They had both scored in the low 90s, only getting a couple questions wrong, and so were allowed to take five packs. Frederick chose the best modern packs he could find, deciding to get cards that could potentially better help him in the future. Jason, meanwhile, took all legacy packs for his choices, being a bigger fan of the oldschool cards and playstyles.

"Well… I don't know about you, Freddy. But I think that was a very productive night." Jason chirped as he looked at the packs in his hand.

"Yeah… always nice to make a new friend in our group. And of course the new cards don't hurt either." Frederick responded before looking back to Jason. "...But I have to say, I'm a little bit confused as to why you wanted to take that Copycat card of his. It's a LIGHT Spellcaster, yeah, but I don't think it seems like a card you would actually use in your Deck."

"Oh, it's really not." Jason admitted with a shrug. "Actually, it's a card that I think a certain friend of mine will be able to use in his Deck. Since he's not there, I figured it would be nice to get the card for him myself, while helping Joel out in the process."

"...So, you're giving Joel a really good card in exchange for a card that you're going to give to a friend rather than actually using yourself… heh. Not exactly getting much out of that deal, are you?" Frederick teased. "Alright. I'm gonna head back to my dorm. I'll talk to you later, man."

"See you soon, buddy." Jason said as he and his friend both went about their separate ways.

Jason walked the whole way back to his car on his own, humming a little bit as he did. It had gotten considerably darker out now, with the moon up and gently glowing in the night sky. It was a bit chilly out now, but it wasn't anything too unbearable for him. He had gotten used to the colder weather by now.

When he was about halfway to his car, however, he stopped as he felt the vibration of his phone in his pocket. After taking his phone out, he saw that he had gotten a text from Malcolm, simply telling him that he was waiting for him next to his car, to discuss their upcoming duel.

"Oh… holy crap. That's coming up in a couple days, isn't it?" Jason asked himself before laughing a little bit. He had been so caught up with what had happened a couple of days ago, he forgot that he and Malcolm had a deal. "Well… I guess that works out perfectly for me then, so that I can give him his little gift." He put his phone back into his pocket and sped up his pace just a little. He didn't want to keep Malcolm waiting too much longer.

Sure enough, when he arrived at the parking lot where his car sat idly, with Malcom standing right next to it, his motorcycle parked a meer parking space away. Once Jason arrived, he gave a little clear of his throat, signifying his arrival.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up." Malcolm said. "Took you long enough."

"Yeah, well a club meeting takes a lot of energy to get around, meet different people." Jason walked over to Malcolm and stood next to him, leaning against his own car as he continued, "You know, you should really try applying for it. I'm sure you'd enjoy it there. There are a bunch of really strong duelists and awesome people to meet."

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm not interested. You know that I have no interest in making friends that will only serve to hold me back. I do things myself in my own way, and that's that."

"Suit yourself. You're missing out on quite a bit." Jason gave a little pause before clearing his throat. "So… how have you been since we last met?"

Malcolm looked at Jason with a little raise of his eyebrow, surprised to hear that Jason would even care to ask before shrugging his shoulders and responding with, "Eh. The usual. Not much has changed for me ever since we stopped those two thieves." He himself paused for a moment, not wanting to bother asking, but since Jason had already asked, and since he had bothered answering him, it only seemed natural to him, somehow, to ask him the same question. "What about you?"

Jason's head seemed to perk up a little bit upon being asked that, and a big smile appeared on his face. Malcolm simply frowned and looked to the other side. He already regretted asking that. "Well… things have been going good for me… Frederick and I just made a new friend in the club… though I gotta say. It's been surprisingly difficult to not take credit for what we did."

"Guess I can't blame you on that one." Malcolm responded with a little shrug. "The news of the Psyche Brothers getting arrested as spread like wildfire throughout the Dark Alley of Nightmare… a lot of thugs that looked up to Magic Moe have been in shock for the past couple of days…" He gave a sigh and shook his head as he looked over to Jason again. "...But enough of the small talk. You know why I'm here."

"Of course, of course. Our rematch… when and where it's going to be had."

Malcolm gave a little nod. "Monday. After both of our classes are over with. We meet up in this very spot and have our rematch. Bring your best cards and be prepared."

Jason gave a little nod, but then a question arose. "Would it be ok if other people were to watch us?" he asked. "I don't think I can go through with this without Fred finding out and wanting to watch."

Malcolm gave a little scoff and rolled his eyes, but eventually answered, "I don't think we can really have a duel without everyone gathering around to watch it anyway… so there's not a whole lot we can do about that."

Jason gave a nod of understanding. He would have to really make sure he was ready for that rematch. He knew that Malcolm was going to make him work for another win. "Well… that's all I have to say." Malcolm stood straight and walked to his motorcycle, starting it up.

Just then, Jason remembered the card that he had been holding in his hand. "Malcolm! Hold on a minute!" he exclaimed. Hearing this, Malcolm looked over to him, turning his motorcycle back off so he could hear him.

"Uhhhh… sorry, just remembered something I wanted to do before we left." Jason held the card out to him. "I… wanted to give you this."

Malcolm was surprised by this, but slowly took the card, turning it around to get a look at it. "...Copycat, huh?" he asked.

"I just got it today at the Duel Monsters Club… as soon as I saw this card, and saw it was a Level 1 Monster, I immediately thought of how you like to have those… so… I want you to have this card."

Malcolm was silent as he stared at the card quietly, not really sure what to say. "...Is this supposed to be some kind of bribery?" he finally asked. "You expecting to get something out of me after giving this to me?"

Jason was quite surprised by Malcolm's response. "N… no. That's not what I'm trying to do at all. I just got that card, and I thought that you could really make good use of it."

Malcolm shook his head. "I don't need any favors from you. I don't need anyone's help. I'm strong enough to rely on myself and only myself." He held the card back for Jason to take it back.

Jason didn't say anything at first, looking at the card, processing what Malcolm had said, and how he was going to respond to it. He finally shook his head and put his hand on Malcolm's slightly pushing the card back to him. "...This isn't a favor or bribery. Instead… accept it as a gift from a friend."

Looking into Malcolm's eyes as he said that, Jason noticed a little something flashed inside Malcolm's eyes as he said the word 'friend'. He wasn't really sure what it was, but it was around long enough just long enough for him to notice it.

Malcolm looked back to the card that he held again and looked back at Jason. He gave a sigh and shook his head, knowing that Jason had no intentions of taking the card back. "...You know I'm not going to put this card in my Deck." he said. "...I have no need for help from others."

"Do whatever you want with it. It's your card now." Jason said with a shrug. "...But I do hope that one day, you'll be able to change your mind and put it in there."

Malcolm simply shook his head and put the card in his backpack to keep it safe, as he started his motorcycle up again. "...Just be sure you're ready for our rematch. I'll see you then. Don't forget." With nothing more to say, he drove away from the parking lot to prepare himself for the rematch in a couple of days.

Jason gave a nod, getting himself and his backpack into his own car. Before driving out, he just sat down quietly and thought to himself. He still didn't understand why this rematch was so important to Malcolm. Sure he had beaten him, and that possibly damaged his reputation on the campus, but he seemed like it was much more important than that. He seemed like there was something at stake for what he was trying to do.

As he sat there, starting his car up and looking back up at the night sky, he also couldn't help but start thinking about that girl who had walked out of their duel that one time. He hadn't seen her since he had returned her card to her… he would have to duel her again some time as well, to finish what they started that day, but he had no idea where to find her… he didn't even know a name to start searching.

"...Alright, Jason… one rematch at a time." he told himself as he began to drive away. He was going to have quite a bit of preparing to do. But he was sure that when he and Malcolm dueled again, he would be ready.


	8. Counting Down

Saturday had come and gone quickly for Jason, with him not having very much to do on that day. Before he knew it, the day was over, and it was now Sunday, leaving him with only one day before his rematch with Malcolm.

While Jason was excited to get another shot at Malcolm, reliving how much of a thrill it was to duel him for the first time, he also couldn't help but feel quite anxious about the whole ordeal. Based on how badly Malcolm has been wanting this, especially when it sounded like there was something on the line in it for him, he knew that Malcolm was going to be ready to win at any costs. Malcolm really made him work for that first win, when it was nothing but simple cards on the line. For that reason, while Jason still wasn't sure why Malcolm needed this rematch so bad, he knew that he was going to have to be ready for it.

He wanted to spend a good majority of the day getting some practice duels in, making sure he would be on the top of his game for when tomorrow came. To his annoyance, however, Frederick wasn't available for the day. When he told him what happened over the phone, he was told that Frederick already had plans for the day, but reminded him that he already beat Malcolm once, so he shouldn't worry about it.

He tried calling Carrie next, but Carrie wasn't able to pick up. He was sent to her voicemail when he tried, but decided not to leave a voice message, deciding that she was probably busy, either hanging out with her other friends, or at some game of sorts. Either way, he didn't want to bother her.

As he was about to give up, however, he remembered that he had made a new dueling friend after the Duel Monsters Club on Friday. Joel may have only gotten into the card game just recently, but any duel to get a bit of practice in would be welcome to Jason. Besides, it could also help more in getting Joel to learn the card game, so it was a win-win for both of them.

To Jason's relief, Joel actually did pick up, and he agreed that they would meet up at the university for their hang out. Joel was a bit reluctant to do so, as he wasn't sure how much help he would be in helping Jason prepare for his rematch, but he eventually let Jason convince him to tag along with him.

The two of them met up at the parking lot where Jason usually parked. They both brought their Decks and a couple of other things that they thought they could use throughout the day. Joel got into the passenger's seat and buckled up.

"Good to see you again, man." Jason said. "Thanks for agreeing to tag along on such short notice."

"That's alright. Thanks for inviting me." Joel said as Jason began to back out of the parking lot. "I haven't really been able to test the deck that you and Frederick made for me, yet… so… I may not be able to help out in preparing you as much as you want."

"I don't mind. Whatever little help I can get in preparing I'll gladly take." Jason said with a little smile as he drove out of the parking lot. "Besides, it will be nice to just get out and around, spend some time together as friends, if nothing else."

They pulled out of the driveway and started on their way. The first place that Jason had wanted to try was the card store. It had been a few days since Magic Moe and Joe were caught and arrested, so he was curious on whether or not the store was open again. Joel wasn't sure whether or not they were open again either, so they both agreed to look into it together.

The fact that the parking lot was almost completely empty was about all the answer they needed, but regardless, they stopped and got out of the car to go over and check how things were doing. The glass from the window being broken had just about all been cleaned up now, but the window itself had yet to be repaired or replaced, so they just had it patched up for the time being. There was a note on the door that stated they were closed until further notice, and apologized for any inconvenience.

"Guess they're not open still… quite a shame." Joel said with a shake of his head. "Who would have thought that this store, out of all the places in this city, would be targeted by thieves?"

"Heh. Yeah. Out of all the places they could have chosen as well. Don't see why they couldn't have just bought the cards like any normal person." Jason agreed with a nod as he looked into what else of the window was still intact, seeing Sophie Tome dusting the shelves and making sure all of the stock was in perfect shape and arranged correctly, while her husband was working on polishing the counter and making sure the display cases in the store were clean.

"Just goes to show you that anything could happen at any point… but I guess we're lucky that they managed to catch those thieves before they could put this place out of business… who knows if this store could ever recover if they were allowed to get away with it."

Jason didn't answer right away, just watching Sophie and her husband work, thinking back to how things could have gone so differently had Carrie and Frederick not been up to the task that night. "...Yeah… lucky." he finally answered back with a little smile.

As she continued to work on the shelves, Sophie noticed from the corner of her eye that Jason was standing there, looking in. Turning around and seeing him, she gave a happy smile and waved hello to him. Jason just nodded and waved back before looking at Joel. "Well… shouldn't be standing around and bothering them when they're so busy. Let's go."

The two of them headed back into the car. Jason didn't start it up right away, looking at Joel with a hum. "Well… I don't know too many other places to hang out." he admitted with a nervous chuckle. "...What about you? You have any places in mind?"

Joel looked up in thought, scratching his chin. "...Well… there's a mall not too far away from where I live that we can go to." he suggested. "It doesn't really have any dedicated places to duel or get cards… but a couple of the stores there do sell trading cards. We might be able to meet a couple of other duelists to hang out with too."

Jason gave a nod of agreement, liking the idea. He was about to start the car up again, but stopped, deciding to ask Joel something before they committed. "...Just a quick question… this mall has a food court, right?"

Joel had a puzzled look on his face. "...Uhhh… yeah… of course it has a food court… why wouldn't a mall have a food court?"

"Just checking is all… figured that we could get something to eat while we were there, you know?" Jason responded with a shrug as he finally started the car up. "Alright then. Mall it is. You guide, I'll drive."

And with that, they got on the road once again, Jason driving while Joel gave directions. According to Joel, it would take no more than half an hour to get there, depending on how bad the traffic was. This sounded good to Jason, and the two of them got on their way.

At first, Jason suggested that they get some music on for the ride to help kill some time, but that idea was quickly scrapped as the two couldn't come to an agreement for what kind of music to play. Jason wanted to listen to some heavy metal, his personal favorite music genre, and one that he claims to get the blood pumping for a duel, while Joel would have preferred to listen to hip hop. With neither of the two able to tolerate the preferred genre of the other, and unable to come to an agreement, they just decided to forgo the music plan.

Silence didn't last too much longer, as Jason decided to start up a conversation. "So… you took the quiz from Friday in the Duel Monsters Club, right?" he asked. "What cards did you get from the packs you got, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well… to be honest, I'm not really sure what a lot of them are." Joel admitted as he chuckled a bit in embarrassment. "...A lot of them, I wasn't really sure what they were, or what they were talking about…like… there were some cards that looked like they were both a Monster and a Spell at the same time."

"Aaah. Yeah. I know what you're talking about." Jason responded with a nod. "Yeah. Never really liked those cards myself. I get them, and I know how they work… kind of… but I still don't like them."

"I can only imagine… what about you? What cards did you get?"

"Not really sure. Haven't opened mine up yet." Jason responded with a shrug. "I kind of like to collect my booster packs rather than opening them right away. Guess I just kind of like having big stacks of packs, and opening them all at once."

"Oh… that makes sense, I guess." Joel responded before snickering a bit. "...You know, if you get enough of those packs, you could probably make your own unboxing channel out of opening them." Both Jason and Joel had a good laugh out of that.

As they continued to drive and talk, about halfway into the ride, a dark green car slowly pulled out from a driveway to a fastfood restaurant and began to tail the car. Neither Jason nor Joel noticed the car that was now following them at first. They were too busy having a good time and talking with each other.

At a stoplight, while they were waiting for the light to go green, Jason finally took notice of the vehicle that was behind him. "...Hey, Joel. Check it out." he said with a little scoff as he looked through his rearview mirror, Joel looking up as well. "Is that not the ugliest color you could possibly have on a car?"

"Well… I don't know about that." Joel answered with a scratch of his head. "...I mean, I think I've seen worse… like… a couple of times, I've seen this weird orange car that had this line of yellow at the front. Almost had the shape of a pair of glasses."

"Wait… you're serious?"

"Yeah… looked like somebody that had been wearing sunglasses, and the rest of their face got sunburnt."

"Yeah… alright. I think that would beat that ugly ass car." Jason agreed as he looked back to the stoplight, having to wait only a couple of seconds before the light turned green, and he and his pursuer were allowed to keep going.

Eventually, the two of them made it to the mall. Jason parked in a spot where there were multiple free spaces right next to each other, to make sure he could get in easily. Once the two of them were parked, they began to walk in. The car that had begun to follow them during the ride also parked, but did so a row away. The person who drove didn't exit just yet, and stayed in there for a moment, waiting to see the two go in before they would finally exit and start to follow them on foot.

Jason and Joel started off just wandering the mall for a little bit, looking at what all was open and where they could go while they were there. A couple of the stores that did sell trading cards didn't actually have any Duel Monsters cards among them, and most of the stores that did didn't really have that much to offer, much to the disappointment of both friends.

After a few minutes of aimlessly scanning the place, they both decided to go to the food court to get some lunch. They settled for a hot dog place in the mall, and ordered their food. It took a bit of time, due to there being only a couple of workers there at that time, and the size of Jason's order, but they finally got their food in a few minutes time.

After the two of them had finished eating, Jason began to answer some of Joel's questions that he had concerning some of the wording on the cards. "...Take for example… Raigeki Break compared to Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End." Jason explained. "Raigeki Break specifically destroys a card. So if your Monster has an effect that can be activated if it's destroyed, Raigeki Break can trigger it. With Chaos Emperor Dragon, however, its ability only sends cards to the Graveyard, not destroy them. Therefore, even though the card is sent to the Graveyard, it wasn't specifically destroyed, therefore the ability doesn't activate."

"Alright… that makes more sense now." Joel said before giving another confused look. "Ok. So what if a Monster's effect activates if it's sent to the Graveyard? Does that mean its ability can't be activated if it's destroyed?"

"No. If a Monster is destroyed, it goes to the Graveyard, unless another effect is in play that would move it somewhere else. Therefore, if a card simply states that its effect activates if it's sent to the Graveyard, its effect is triggered if it's sent to the Graveyard in any way, destroyed or not."

"Alright. I see now." Joel answered as he chuckled a bit. "Man. This game is a lot more complicated than I thought."

Jason laughed a bit and nodded. "Yeah. It's not really as simple as one would think, huh? Even now, I'm still not completely sure whether or not I know all the rules. But, hey. As long as you have fun, there's not much else to it."

Joel gave a nod and a little hum. "...Heh. Here we are, trying to get you more prepared for your rematch, and yet I'm the only one that seems to be learning anything more." he joked with a chuckle. "Sorry if I'm not that much of a help right now."

"Nah. You're just fine." Jason said with a chuckle. "I still got some time left anyway. There's no need to rush at all."

The two of them continued to talk, with Jason answering whatever questions Joel may have had for a few minutes, before Joel got up to use the bathroom. As Jason was waiting for him, the person that had been following him during the car ride finally decided to make his move. He was a rather short man, around 5'6", with a buzzcut and a dark brown goatee, and carried a briefcase with him, while wearing a brown business suit.

"Pardon me. I hope I'm not interrupting." he said, his voice calm and calculated, getting Jason's attention. "...You are Jason Titan, if I'm not mistaken, right?"

Jason gave a raise of his eyebrow. "...Yeah… that's me." he started, slightly unsettled that the man knew who he was. "...Can I help you with something? I didn't drop my wallet again, did I? I'm pretty sure I still have it in my pocket-"

"No, nothing like that." the man said as he took out a card and handed it to Jason. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ets Seeoh. I'm a professional duel mercenary."

"A… duel mercenary…? Are you here to kill me? Is that what you're saying?"

The man gave a little chuckle and took his card back, sliding it into his jacket. "Not at all, my dear boy. You misunderstand my profession. We duel mercenaries are duelists for hire. If somebody wants us to duel someone for whatever reason at all, we can be commissioned to serve them for the right price."

"...Wait. Really?" Jason asked as he looked up, his uncertainty changed to intrigue. "...You mean to tell me that you get paid just to play this game…? Holy crap. To Hell with college! I've been in the wrong profession!"

The man cleared his throat a little bit. "Er… yes. Well, anyway, I've been hired to have a duel with you, and I couldn't help but notice that you've brought your duel disk and your Deck along with you. I was hoping that we could have our duel now, if that would be no trouble for you."

"'Hired to duel me', you say…? What for, if you don't mind me asking?" Jason asked. "Did I do something to someone?"

"I do not believe so. I cannot divulge my client's identity, but he simply wishes for me to test your abilities. As of this moment, my current success rate of duels between myself and targets is 74%, so I have quite the record, if I do say so myself. I should hope that a duel between the two of us will be a sufficient test for my client."

Jason gave a little hum of thought. He certainly had manners, that was for sure. Adding to that was his very professional way of speaking and his straight posture. Just looking at him was definitely enough to intimidate anyone at first meeting him.

Before Jason could give an answer, Joel finally came back from the bathroom, stopping as he saw the man that was talking with Jason. "...Uhhh… a friend of yours, Jason?" he asked.

Ets looked at Joel with a little raise of his eyebrow. "And who might this be? You are friends with him, Jason?"

"Uhhhh… yes… this is my friend, Joel. He just recently got into the card game." Jason introduced.

Ets gave a little nod and took out the card again, this time, simply holding it up and showing it to Joel. "Ets Seeoh. Professional duel mercenary. I've been hired to test the skills of your friend here."

"A duel mercenary…? I've heard about you guys from one of my friends." Joel said. "...I never thought I would actually see one in real life, let alone know someone that they were hired against."

"Well… it certainly beats having a regular mercenary hired against me." Jason joked with a little laugh before standing up. "Alright, Ets Seeoh. If you've been hired to duel me, then I'm not going to keep you or your client waiting to see what I can do. Let's have that duel!"

"That's exactly what I thought you would say. However, if it's no trouble to you, I should like for us to take this outside, to a bit less crowded area, yes?" Ets asked. "After all, we wouldn't want to be disturbing the others with our duel."

Upon agreeing to this, Jason and Ets exited the mall and walked a little ways away so that there was nobody else around, aside from Joel, who followed the two of them. Jason took his duel disk and Deck out of his bookbag, putting his Deck into the duel disk and activating it. Ets, meanwhile, took both his Deck and duel disk out of his briefcase and did just as Jason did. Unlike Jason's standard disk, Ets' was a strange, seemingly dark gray disk, which almost looked black from how dark it was, with twenty little lights all around the duel disk.

"I hope you're as good at dueling as you are at business, Ets! Because I'm not going to be holding anything back!" Jason said with an excited grin.

"I will hold nothing back either, Jason. For doing so would be disgraceful for a man of my profession." Ets answered back as they both drew their opening hands.

"LET'S DUEL!"

"I hope you don't object to me going first." Ets said as he looked at his cards and placed one in his Spell/Trap Zone. "First, I'll be paying 2000 of my own Life Points, in order to activate my Spell Card. Final Countdown."

Upon activating the card and his Life Points dropping to 6000, all of a sudden, Ets' duel disk suddenly flared to life, the dark gray exterior of the device suddenly transforming to a pale, bluish purple color, and what appeared to be an evil, grinning face appearing on it, making it resemble the art of the card he just played.

"This Spell Card has just put us both on a timer. I don't suppose you would happen to be aware of what this card does, would you, Jason?"

Jason gave a little shake of his head, staring intently at the transformation on Ets' duel disk. "Go ahead and enlighten me."

"It works like this. Upon activating this Spell Card, at the end of every turn after its activation, including this one, one of the lights on my duel disk will light up." Ets explained as he gestured to the lights surrounding his duel disk. "This will go on until all of the lights are lit up. Once twenty turns have passed after this card's activation, I win the duel."

"He wins the duel, just like that?" Joel asked in surprise.

Jason gave a little frown. "...So what you're saying is I have ten turns to beat you, starting now… sounds easy enough. Ten turns is a long time in this game, after all."

"Trust me. I won't be making it easy for you." Ets responded as he put another card in his Spell/Trap Zone, this one being face-down. "But we'll let our cards do the talking for us. Go ahead and make your move." As he finished his first turn, one of the lights on his duel disk lit up in a combination of orange and yellow.

"It'll be my pleasure. My draw!" Jason said as he drew and looked at his Hand before grinning. "Hohoh man. Looks like I'll only need one turn to win this duel. I'm activating my Field Spell, Entryway to Pure Chaos!"

Placing the card in his Field Zone, the entire area around them shifted into a realm of blue, constantly switching from bright and dark at seemingly random intervals. "With this powerful Field Spell, all of my Pure Chaos Monsters are unaffected by any card effects except their own. Not only that, but whenever I Ritual Summon a Pure Chaos Ritual Monster, I can remove Spells and Traps on your side of the Field from play, up to the number of Monsters I used for the Ritual Summon."

Ets didn't say anything, completely keeping his composure as Jason went on. "And that's too bad for you, when I'm also activating my Chaotic Ritual! Now, I send from my Hand, Deck or Field, at least two Monsters, one of which being a LIGHT and one being a DARK, in order to Ritual Summon a powerful Pure Chaos Ritual Monster in my Hand. And I'll be sending my Pure Chaos Spirit Drake from my Hand, and my Pure Chaos Dragon Whelp from my Deck, adding up to exactly 10. Perfect for what I'm about to summon."

The area on Jason's side of the field began to distort. "Say hello to one of my personal favorites! The Pure Chaos Dragon Spirit!"

A bright light shined after the distortion had faded, showing the Monster that Jason had just summoned. It was a dragon, covered in golden armor and white feathers, its legs being more like those of a bird, and having two arms and hands completely covered in golden armor, a long tail completely covered in white feathers and six wings. Its stats showed it to be a Level 10 LIGHT Dragon-Type with 4000 ATK and 4000 DEF.

"And since I used exactly two Monsters, I'm allowed to banish up to 2 Spells or Traps you control. But since you only have one, I'll make due with that." He pointed to the face-down card that Ets had on his Field, and it disappeared, Ets quietly taking it out of his duel disk and putting it into his briefcase. "But it gets even better. Since I Special Summoned a LIGHT Pure Chaos Monster this turn, I get to Special Summon another favorite of mine from my Deck. Say hello to my Divine Chimera of Pure Chaos!"

Joel watched in amazement as the new Monster leapt forward with a roar. "His Monsters combined have more than enough power to finish Ets off, and he doesn't have anything left on his Field! Jason can end this duel right now!"

"I'm a bit disappointed, honestly. For someone who does this stuff for a living, I was expecting much more out of you." Jason admitted. "Oh well. I guess this'll show you and your client just how good I can be."

Ets simply gave a little growl, still keeping his composure, even at this situation.

"Alright, my two Monsters! Attack directly and end this duel right now!" Both of his Monsters went forward, the Divine Chimera leaping forward to make his attack, while the Pure Chaos Dragon Spirit released a beam of light at Ets. Both of them seemingly hit their mark, causing an explosion of smoke and dust to come forth.

Jason gave a little smirk and nodded, proud of himself as he turned his head to Joel. "And that, Joel, is how you get things done. Normally I like a bit of a slower duel, but if you're going to put me on a timer, you better believe that I'm gonna act fast."

"...Well then, maybe you should start acting a bit faster." Joel said as he pointed to the Field. "I don't think this duel is over yet!"

"Not over yet?" Jason asked as he turned to see what Joel was talking about.

As the smoke began to clear, he saw Ets still standing there quietly, not having moved a muscle, and his duel disk still purple with one light on. As the smoke cleared more, Jason found that there was now a Monster occupying that zone, where there hadn't been one before.

"What's this?!" Jason asked in shock as he looked at the Field. "Where did that Monster come from?!"

Ets simply sighed and shook his head a little bit. "Come on. You didn't honestly think that I would allow myself to be defeated on your very first turn, did you?" he asked. "You may have gotten rid of the card that I had set face-down, but not any of the cards in my Hand. And I was fully prepared to defend myself from whatever you would attempt to do."

He held his hand to the Monster that was now on his Field. "Such defenses include the Monster you see before you. It's a very useful Monster known as Battle Fader. If you would attack me while I have no other Monsters on the Field, I can Special Summon this Monster from my Hand, and automatically put a stop to any attack attempts for the turn."

"But what about the Entryway to Pure Chaos?" Joel asked. "Jason said that his Pure Chaos Monsters were unaffected by any card effects except their own. They should still be able to attack this turn, shouldn't they?"

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong." Ets started to explain. "You see, my Battle Fader's effect doesn't affect any Monsters. In actuality, when Battle Fader summons itself, it ends the Battle Phase immediately. And since it's no longer the Battle Phase, he loses any chances to attack that he has for the turn."

Jason gave a little growl. "Clever. You managed to work around my Field Spell just like that… you've bought yourself a turn. I end."

"And with that, another turn goes by for my Final Countdown." Ets said as he drew his card after another light on his duel disk lit up. "First, I'll sacrifice my Battle Fader to Set a Monster face-down." His Battle Fader disappeared from the Field, and in its place was a face-down Monster. "Since my Battle Fader was Special Summoned by its own effect, it's removed from the game when it leaves the Field. Then I'll place one other card face-down and end my turn."

"Then it's my move. I draw." Jason said, watching as a third light on Ets' duel disk lit up. Those things were starting to light up fast. Jason was going to have to work faster if he was going to punch through to victory. Luckily for him, his Entryway to Pure Chaos would be able to protect his Monsters from whatever shenanigans Ets would try to pull.

"I'll be Summoning my Messenger of Pure Chaos to the Field." Jason said as he put his Monster on the Field. "Since I already control Pure Chaos Monsters when she's Normal Summoned, I can't activate her ability. But what I can do is equip her with the Equip Card, Rift Blade!"

A sword fell from the sky in front of the Messenger of Pure Chaos, which she pulled out of the ground and held in her hand. "Now, my Messenger of Pure Chaos! Attack his face-down Monster now!" The Messenger of Pure Chaos flew forward on her black wings, ready to strike down Ets' Monster.

"Before you go any further, I have a Trap to activate." Ets said as he held his hand up, the face-down card flipping up to reveal itself. "Dust Tornado. By activating this, I can destroy any Spell or Trap you control. And I'll destroy your Entryway to Pure Chaos."

Jason gave a little growl as his Field Spell was destroyed, the environment slowly changing back into the one they started the duel in. "But, wait. That's not going to stop his attack at all." Joel pointed out. "Why bother?"

"True, it may not be able to stop his attack… but with his Field Spell no longer in play, his Monsters are no longer protected from my effects." Ets answered. "And that's not good for him. Especially when the Monster he just attempted to attack…" He took his face-down Monster and flipped it face-up for Jason to see. "...Was none other than my Nobleman-Eater Bug."

"Oh, crap." Jason groaned as he watched the Monster appear, struck by his Messenger's attack.

"I see you are already familiar with this Monster. When it's flipped face-up, it gets to destroy any two Monsters on the Field. And since your Messenger has already attacked, I'll use my Bug's effect to destroy your two Dragon Monsters."

Jason watched in a mixture of frustration and disgust as the Monster took hold of his Pure Chaos Monsters and devoured them on the spot, taking them with it as it was destroyed. "My Monsters destroyed…" Jason whispered. "...But… it's alright. Now, since your Nobleman-Eater Bug was destroyed by my Messenger of Pure Chaos, the effect of Rift Blade activates. I'm allowed to either Special Summon your Bug to my side of the Field, or I can remove it from play, and give my Messenger 100 Attack Points for each of its levels. Since its ability is useless to me if it can't be flipped face-down, I'll go ahead and remove your bug from play."

The soul of Ets' Nobleman-Eater Bug flowed out of his Graveyard and disappeared into the Rift Blade. "With your Monster's Level of 5, that's an extra 500 points to my Messenger, bringing her up to 2100 Attack Points. Not too bad, huh?"

"Not too bad indeed. However, if you think you're going to defeat me simply by being 'not too bad', then I'm afraid that this duel is impossible for you." Ets pointed to the fourth light, waiting for Jason to end his turn before it would light up. "Every turn you are unable to do any meaningful damage to me is another turn that puts me closer to victory. Now… if you have no more moves to make, go ahead and end, so my fourth light can light up."

"I'm not done just yet." Jason responded as he took one of the two remaining cards in his Hand and put it face-down in his Spell/Trap Zone. "I place one card face-down to end my turn."

"Then we move on to the next turn; number 5 of 20." Ets said as his next light lit up and he drew a card. "I place one card face-down, then activate the Spell Card, Card of Demise. When this card is activated, I draw cards until I have 3 cards in my Hand, and during the End Phase, any cards that are still in my Hand are sent to the Graveyard."

"Ingenious move." Jason said. "By setting the only other card you have before activating Card of Demise, you have no other cards in your Hand when activating it, and can draw 3 cards instead of just 2."

"Indeed. And that means I have even more advantage on my side now." Ets said as he drew his three cards. "And I'll be using it to place one more card and another Monster face-down. I end my turn, and since I still have a card in my Hand during the End Phase, that card is discarded, thanks to the effect of my Card of Demise." He put his one card into the Graveyard, and the fifth light began to shine.

"Rrrgh… well, this duel is far from over. It's my move!" Jason said as he drew his card and looked at it. He certainly wasn't a fan of the situation he was in, but he was going to have to make due. On the bright side, he figured out that Ets' main strategy was to stall him out in the hopes to win with Final Countdown. Since that was the case, he probably wasn't going to have too many strong Monsters to work with.

"For my turn, I'll go ahead and let my Messenger of Pure Chaos attack your face-down Monster." Jason said as he pointed to the face-down Monster. "Messenger of Pure Chaos, attack!"

Ets gave a little amused hum as he closed his eyes. "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it, my friend." he said as he flipped his Monster face-up. "For now, you have the original Man-Eater Bug to deal with." Jason gave a growl as the Man-Eater Bug appeared, being slashed by his Messenger, but eyeing her hungrily before he began to devour her. Taken by surprise, the Messenger dropped her Blade and began to struggle a bit, but she was unable to get free as the Insect-Type Monster devoured her before finally disappearing.

"And now, your Messenger shares the same fate as her two friends, lost in the belly of a deceased Monster forever."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Jason said as he pointed to his face-down card. "Activate, Trap Card! Road to Ruin!"

"Road to Ruin? What in the world is that?" Joel asked as he watched Jason activate his Trap Card.

"It works like this. This card can only be activated if a Pure Chaos Monster I control is destroyed, either by battle or by your card effect. Now, starting with the Monster you just destroyed, if any number of Pure Chaos Monsters are sent from the Field to the Graveyard, I can banish them from my Graveyard, and inflict damage to your Life Points equal to their total Levels x100."

Ets gave a slight growl as Jason removed his Messenger from play, inflicting 400 points of damage to his Life Points. "Very well then. 400 Life Points is a small amount to pay for your Messenger's destruction."

"Maybe so… but what about 1000 Life Points?" Jason asked as he took a Monster from his Hand. "Since I just removed a Pure Chaos Monster in my Graveyard from play with my own card effect, I can Special Summon this beauty from my Hand. The Sorceress of Pure Chaos! In Attack Mode!"

Jason grinned and nodded as his Sorceress appeared, her staff in Hand and her eyes set on their opponent. "Her beauty is only matched by her power. You see, for every card you currently control, Sorceress gains an additional 300 Attack Points. Since you have two so far, she gets 600 Attack Points. Not only that, but since she was Special Summoned by her own effect, she protects herself from any of your card effects. So good luck stopping her. Go! Attack him directly!"

The Sorceress held her staff forward and fired a blast of light at Ets. Due to his lack of many cards on his Field, the blast was quite weak, bringing him down to 5000 Life Points remaining. "Not the 2100 I was hoping I could get, but every little bit helps against you." Jason said. "I end my turn."

Ets nodded as the sixth light on his duel disk lit up, and he drew his next card. "I'll place one Monster face-down and end my turn."

Jason nodded and watched as the seventh light lit up. "Not a very productive turn, I must admit… but since you just placed a Monster face-down, my Sorceress gains another 300 ATK. Your Deck is completely focused on stalling me out and controlling my Field in order to win with your Final Countdown, but it doesn't have very many strong Monsters. So I don't need too many of my own in order to defeat you. And now, it's my move!" He drew his card and hummed in thought. "I'll go ahead and place one Monster face-down for myself. Now, my Sorceress will attack your face-down Monster!"

Sorceress held her staff up again, blasting a ray of light that was slightly more powerful than the last one. Ets, however, had other plans. "I'm afraid you're going to have to try harder than that." he said as he took a card out of his Graveyard and put it on his side of the Field. "You've triggered the effect of Tasuke Knight from my Graveyard."

"Tasuke Knight?" Jason asked in surprise as the Tasuke Knight suddenly rose up from the ground on Ets' side of the Field. "Hang on a minute. I never sent that thing to the Graveyard. How did it get there?"

"It's true. You didn't send my Knight to the Graveyard… on the contrary, I did." Ets answered. "Or have you forgotten about my Card of Demise?"

"The card you sent to your Graveyard at the end of your turn… that was Tasuke Knight." Jason growled. "You sent it there, knowing that it was better off in your Graveyard than in your Hand!"

"That's right. Since you attempt to attack while I have no cards in my Hand, I can Special Summon Tasuke Knight from my Graveyard. And even with your Sorceress gaining an additional 300 Attack Points, she's still 500 below what my newly summoned knight can do… heh. So much for your theory on my Deck."

Jason bit back a curse. Now, not only could he make no other attacks this turn, but now his Sorceress was in danger. "I'm finished." he grumbled under his breath.

"With your turn, and eventually the whole duel." Ets said as his eighth light lit up, and he drew his next card. "For this turn, I'll be flipping my Big Eye to face-up Attack Position." His face-down Monster was flipped face-up, revealing the Fiend-Type that was almost nothing but eyeballs. "When my Big Eye is flipped face-up, he allows me to take the top 5 cards of my Deck, and arrange them in any order that I wish."

Jason silently watched on in quiet disdain as Ets took his top five cards and began to place them back in a different order. Not only was he going to know what was there, but he could now arrange his cards to draw whatever he needed on the next turn.

"Now that that's out of the way, we'll now battle. While I don't normally care about doing so, your Sorceress could be quite the detriment to my plans. So I'll let my Tasuke Knight destroy her now." Tasuke Knight drew his sword and charged forward and slashed at the Sorceress, who let out a pained scream as she was destroyed, bringing Jason's Life Points down to 7500.

"You may have destroyed my Sorceress, but don't forget about my Road to Ruin!" Jason reminded. "With a Level of 8 from my Sorceress, that's going to cost you another 800 Life Points."

"Just 4200 shy of what you're looking for, am I right?" Ets asked with a little smirk, changing his facial expression for the first time throughout the duel. "Life Points won't matter to me by the end of this duel. Before I end my turn, I'll go ahead and let my Big Eye attack your face-down Monster."

Big Eye charged forward, leaping into the air and coming down, slashing at the Monster that Jason had face-down. "Sorry to say, but this is a Monster you won't be getting through." Jason said. "You just attempted to attack Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos. While I control no other Monsters, Soul can't be destroyed by battle."

"Well, that makes it so that Jason can protect himself for a bit…" Joel started. "...But attacks aren't what he has to worry about in this duel. It's that Final Countdown that he has to worry about."

"Your friend is right. And now that I set this Monster face-down before ending my turn, we're almost halfway there." Ets said as he set a Monster, and the ninth light shined now. "It's your move."

"Gladly. It's my turn." Jason said as he drew his next card. He gave a frown. "Dang it… if I were able to Tribute right now, I would be able to summon a stronger Monster out… but thanks to my Soul's effect, he can't be Tributed… I have nothing I can do. I end my turn."

"And with that, we have officially crossed the halfway point." Ets said as his tenth light lit up, and he drew his next card. "My Big Eye and my Tasuke Knight have served their purpose, but I have no further use for them. For that reason, I'm going to overlay them for something a little more useful."

"What?! An XYZ Summon?!" Jason growled from between his teeth as he watched as Tasuke Knight was turned into a sphere of brown and Big Eye into a sphere of purple, both of them going up into the air.

"Since both of my Monsters are Level 4, I can XYZ Summon a Rank 4 Monster. And my choice will be Number 52: Diamond Crab King." From the sky, a large blue crab with a shell covered in a pile of diamonds descended rapidly, landing on the ground with a large thud and holding its arms in a blocking position. "3000 Defense Points will be more than enough to guard from any of your Monsters. Wouldn't you agree?" Jason simply gave a little growl.

"Now, I think this Monster has been languishing face-down for long enough, since you don't seem to be able to do much in terms of attacking right now. I Flip Summon my Skelengel, activating its special ability to allow me to draw one card." Ets drew his card and nodded, the eleventh light lighting up. "I end my turn. And with that, we reach turn number 12. I do hope you manage to make your next turns count."

"Just watch and see. My move!" Jason said as he drew. "I summon my Masked Dragon in Attack Mode. He may not be able to get over your XYZ Monster, but he's more than strong enough to take down your Skelengel." Jason said as he pointed to the Skelengel. "Masked Dragon, attack!"

"Fine attempt, but I'm afraid I can't let you do that." Ets said as he revealed his face-down card. "Threatening Roar. When this Trap Card is activated, you can't declare any attacks for the remainder of this turn."

Jason gave a growl. He hated it when he was kept down like this. "...Then I guess I end my turn." he said as the twelfth light lit up on Ets' duel disk.

"Then I suppose it's my turn." Ets said as he drew, giving a little smirk. "And first things first, I'll be switching my Skelengel into Defense Mode, and switching my Diamond Crab King into Attack Mode."

"He's switching his XYZ Monster into Attack Mode? But why?" Joel asked. "That Monster has no Attack Points."

"Because my Diamond King Crab has a special ability that I can activate by detaching one of its materials used for its summoning." Ets said. "By detaching my Big Eye, I can switch my Crab's ATK and DEF for the remainder of this turn, bringing him up to 3000 Attack Points."

Jason growled as the crab stood a bit taller, clamping its pincers twice, ready for attack. "As I said, I don't usually take the time to make attacks like this, but I also don't want you having too much advantage on the Field. So I'll have my King Crab attack your Masked Dragon." The giant crab raised its pincer up and smashed the Masked Dragon, who gave a little roar of pain as it was crushed, causing Jason to lose 1600 Life Points.

"My Masked Dragon may be down, but now his special ability activates." Jason said as he took his Deck out. "When my Masked Dragon is destroyed, I can choose any Dragon from my Deck and Special Summon it to the Field, as long as that Dragon has 1500 Attack Points or less. And I'll use his special ability to Special Summon my Pure Chaos Dragon Whelp from my Deck!"

Ets gave a little hum as he watched the small Dragon appear. "Hmmm… one weak Dragon for another, huh? So be it. At the end of my Battle Phase, my King Crab returns to Defense Position, and at the end of my turn, his Defense and Attack will return to normal. I end my turn." His Crab got back into Defense Position, and the thirteenth light began to shine. "You're starting to run out of time, Jason."

"Maybe… but I'll still have more than enough time to beat you. Just watch!" Jason said as he drew. "Now, I'll be Tributing the Pure Chaos Dragon Whelp that I had summoned earlier, in order to Normal Summon Genesis Dragon!" The small dragon disappeared, and in its place, a stronger dragon. "And don't be forgetting about my Road to Ruin. By banishing my Dragon Whelp, I can inflict another 200 points of damage to your Life Points!"

"Hmph. So now you've brought me down to half of my points. And it only took you half of the duel." Ets said as he was brought down to 4000 Life Points. "But it matters not. You're still nowhere close to defeating me."

"That's what you think. But I'm nowhere close to being done." Jason responded. "Since my Genesis Dragon is out on my side of the Field now, I think I'll be finishing what my Mask Dragon started the last turn. Go, Genesis Dragon! Destroy his Skelengel!" With a loud roar, Genesis Dragon unleashed a bright blast against Skelengel, who took the hit and was destroyed. "Of course, since your Skelengel was in Defense Mode, you don't lose any Life Points. But it feels good to have it off the Field. I'll place one card face down, and I end my turn."

"Well then, looks like we're nearing the end." Ets said as he held his duel disk up, letting Jason see as the fourteenth light lit up, leaving only six more lights left lightless. "You now have three turns of your own left before my Final Countdown finishes. If you can't defeat me by the end of your third turn, this duel is over."

Jason nodded in understanding as Ets drew his next card. "And just to make sure you don't have any funny ideas… I activate the Spell Card. Dian Keto the Cure Master." Jason gave a little nervous gulp as he saw that. He never would have imagined that he'd dread seeing a Life Point gain so much. "Your main strategy was to decrease my Life Points with your Road to Ruin by continuously banishing your Pure Chaos Monsters that get sent to your Graveyard. It was a commendable thought, but by regaining 1000 of my Life Points, it's now but a pipe dream."

"That's just great…" Jason grumbled under his breath. "Now, even if I were to banish the rest of my Pure Chaos Monsters, I don't think I would be able to do enough damage to be able to get through him with my Road to Ruin."

"Wh-what are you going to do, Jason?" Joel asked. "If this keeps up, he'll just keep stalling you out before you're going to beat him."

"This is looking tough, but it's far from impossible." Jason said as he looked at Joel. "The very first rule of Duel Monsters. Don't ever give up. No matter how tough things get, there's always a chance that will present itself if you keep going."

"Indeed. You are quite a courageous duelist, I freely admit that." Ets responded. "However, it's going to take a little more than mere courage to defeat me. I switch my Crab King back into Attack Mode, and detach the second of his Materials, to bring his Attack Points up to 3000 for the rest of the turn."

Jason gave a little groan. "And let me guess. That means I'm going to take another big hit. Am I right?"

"Thanks to your Genesis Dragon, not that big. But enough to put an end to your Monster. Diamond Crab King, attack Genesis Dragon now." The Rock Monster attacked once again, destroying Genesis Dragon, and dealing 800 points of damage to Jason. "Now that I've destroyed your Genesis Dragon, you can choose to activate its effect, if you wish, and shuffle all Dragons currently in your Graveyard back into your Deck."

Jason gave a little nod. He began to reach down for his Graveyard, but then stopped as he looked at it. He suddenly had a thought, an idea. He recalled that there was a specific card in his Graveyard that was sent there very early into the duel… he couldn't guarantee that this idea was going to work, but if what he was seeing throughout this duel was true, then perhaps he would be able to get a chance to pull it off, and to win this duel.

"...I won't be using my Genesis Dragon's ability." Jason answered with a little shake of his head. "I'll leave my Dragons in the Graveyard."

"Hmmmm… interesting choice." Ets said as he took a card from his Hand and placed it into his Spell/Trap Zone. "Then I'll be activating the Spell Card, The Shallow Grave. Now, thanks to the effect of this Spell Card, we both get to Special Summon a Monster from our Graveyards in face-down Defense Position."

"Be careful, Jason." Joel called out. "Since you and him are going to be playing your Monsters face-down, there's no telling what he could play."

Jason gave a little nod and looked at Ets. To a certain extent, he didn't agree with what Joel had just said. It was clear that a good deal of the duel mercenary's strategy revolved around the Flip effects of his Monsters. With The Shallow Grave making them play their Monsters face-down, he had no doubt that the one Monster Ets would choose would be a Flip Monster. He couldn't see Big Eye doing him too many favors anymore, so Jason was willing to bet that Ets was going to choose one of his Man-Eater Bugs. After some thought, though, he remembered that the Nobleman-Eater Bug had been banished by his Rift Blade. That means that his most likely choice was going to be Man-Eater Bug.

After some thought from both sides, both duelists took a Monster out of their Graveyards and set them back onto the Field. "There. Now with that, I end my turn." Ets held up his duel disk as the fifteenth light lit up. "And now starts your first of three last turns before my Final Countdown brings me to victory. Choose your next moves wisely."

Jason looked at his deck and shuddered a little bit. Only three turns left to make something happen… back when he had ten, he felt a lot more at ease, but now that those turns had been burnt up, he wasn't so sure anymore. And with Ets now having 5000 Life Points, his Road to Ruin wasn't going to be enough on its own to take Ets out at this level. He was going to have to play his next moves perfectly if he wanted to win this duel.

"I draw!" he exclaimed as he drew his next card and looked at it. He was silent as he looked at the state of the game, and what cards he had left on the Field. He didn't want to show too much emotion, or else he might give something away to Ets that he didn't want to. "I'll place one card face-down. Then I'm going to Flip Summon my Pure Chaos Spirit Drake that I Special Summoned thanks to your Spell Card." He flipped the Monster face-up, and the Dragon appeared with a little growl. "That's it for my turn."

Ets gave a little frown. "Flip Summoning your Dragon with 3000 ATK, but not using it… not a very eventful turn, now was it?" he asked as he watched the sixteenth light turn on on his duel disk. The lights were almost completely wrapped around his duel disk now. In a few short turns, he would win this duel.

Ets drew his card and gave a little hum. "First thing I'll do is Flip Summon the very Monster that I Special Summoned with the help of my Shallow Grave. Say hello to my Man-Eater Bug, back from the grave." He took the face-down Monster and flipped it face-up, and just as he said, the Man-Eater Bug was back.

"Oh no. Not that thing again!" Joel exclaimed. "Now that it was flipped face-up, he's able to destroy one of Jason's Monsters!"

"That's right. Now the only question is, which one should I destroy…?" Ets scratched his goatee in thought before giving a nod. "Since the inability to destroy your Soul in battle is of no concern to me… I'll go ahead and use my Man-Eater Bug's ability to destroy your Spirit Drake."

The Man-Eater Bug began to greedily charge forward, its fangs salivating as it neared its prey. It took the Drake into its claws and began to voraciously stuff it into its mouth, gobbling it up completely, its saliva flying all over around it as it feasted on its victim. "Your weapon against me has been crushed."

To this, Jason gave a little smirk. "Or yours, perhaps?" he responded with a little wink. "Now you're the one who's played into my hands, by activating your Man-Eater Bug's effect. And I'm not talking about my Road to Ruin."

"What's that?" Ets questioned. "You had a Trap lying in wait for that?"

"Not exactly… as close to a Trap as you're going to get, though. Since you just destroyed both of my Monsters, I can now activate the card that I put down on my previous turn!" Jason explained as he held his hand to the Field. "Reveal my face-down! Retribution of Chaos!"

The face-down card flipped face-up, revealing a Quick-Play Spell Card. As it was activated, the entire area grew dark, and the skies were covered by dark red clouds that gave off a deep sense of menace. Red streaks of lightning began to fly across the clouds for all of the duelists to see, the entire field now basking in its awe-inspiring and spine-tingling presence.

"This handy Spell Card can only be activated when a face-up Pure Chaos Monster of mine is destroyed by battle or by card effect. And as it just so happens, your Man-Eater Bug just destroyed my Pure Chaos Spirit Drake, triggering this card's effect. Now that this card is activated, all other Monsters on the Field are automatically destroyed."

"What?" Ets questioned as he took a step back, his face showing surprise, being the first emotion that he had shown throughout this entire duel. "My Diamond Crab King and my Man-Eater Bug…"

"Are done." Jason said as he gave a thumbs down. The red lightning finally struck the field, striking both Monsters on Ets' side of the Field, who gave pained, shrill shrieks as they were both destroyed, along with Jason's Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos. "Of course, that also means that I have to get rid of my Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos, but as you said, not being able to attack me is no concern of yours anyway... oh. I should also mention this before you move on with your turn. Since I activated my Retribution of Chaos, neither of us takes any damage for the rest of this turn."

Ets' surprise was soon brought back down and replaced with his usual poker face, though this time, a faint hint of a smile came on his lips as he began to speak, his voice still revealing little to no emotion. "That's why you didn't attack with your Dragon on your turn. You guessed that I had chosen to revive my Man-Eater Bug, and so waited for me to activate its effect on my next turn. Smart play. I can see why I would be sent to test your skills."

"It's quite a shame that you can't tell me who it was that sent you." Jason said with a shrug and a smile on his face. "I would really love to show them just how good I am personally, rather than letting them send someone else to do their work for them."

"Maybe so… but you still have a long way to go before defeating me, and only two turns to do it." Ets put down a face-down Monster and showed as the seventeenth light on his duel disk lit up. "It'll look a lot longer when you're unable to touch my Life Points, thanks to this face-down Monster. I end my turn."

"Then it's my turn. I draw." Jason drew his card and gave a little smirk and nodded before he put the card he just drew into his Monster Zone. "And I'll be starting my turn off with the mighty Alexandrite Dragon."

The Dragon gave a proud roar as it appeared on the Field, and Jason continued. "And if you thought that I wouldn't be able to touch your Life Points because you have a face-down card, I'm afraid you've got another thing coming. More specifically, what you have coming is my Trap Card! Dragon's Rage!"

He flipped his face-down card that he had set after destroying Skelengel face-up. "Now, thanks to this handy Trap Card, whenever a Dragon-Type Monster I control attacks a Defense Position Monster you control, if the DEF of your Monster is lower than my Dragon's ATK, this Trap Card will inflict the difference as Piercing Damage to you."

"So, now you're able to do damage to me, even if my Monsters are in Defense Mode to protect me. But 2000 Attack Points still doesn't really get you that much closer to winning this duel, now does it?"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that just yet. After all, you have yet to feel his attack. And that's what you're about to feel right now!" Jason said as he pointed. "Go, Alexandrite Dragon! Attack his face-down card now!" The jeweled dragon took a deep breath in, the jeweled scales on its body starting to glow into a bright orange and smoke billowing from its nostrils before it released an orange fireball at the face-down card. It flipped face-up to reveal what the Monster was, being Morphing Jar, before it was hit by the fireball, the jar being shattered and the creature inside going with it.

Ets gave a little grunt as his Life Points now fell to 3600. "And by attacking my Morphing Jar, you've triggered its Flip ability. I don't believe I have to tell you what this card does, but since we have an audience here…" he started, nodding a bit at Joel before continuing. "Now that it was flipped face-up, we both discard our entire Hands, then draw cards until we have 5 cards in our Hands again."

Jason gave a little scoff. "You know… I think I liked that card a lot better when it was still banned." Both duelists slid all of the cards they held into their respective Graveyards, then drew a new Hand of 5 cards. "Regardless, 3600 Life Points is a lot more manageable than 5000. Depending on what all I get, I'll be able to handle that just fine come my next turn."

Ets gave a little amused hum and held up his duel disk, showing Jason as the eighteenth light lit up. "I certainly hope so, for your sake. After all, after my next turn, you only have one more chance to defeat me. If you can't defeat me on my next turn, my Final Countdown will win me this duel on the spot. You better hope you get something really good, and I can't stop you."

Having said that, Ets drew his next card and gave a little nod. "...Though to stop you from doing so, it looks like I only need one card, which I'll place face-down." He put the card into his Spell/Trap Zone, and watched as the nineteenth light lit up, leaving only one dull. "This is your last turn, Jason. Let's see if you can make it count."

"It'll be my pleasure. I draw!" Jason exclaimed as he drew his next card, not yet looking at it, or the cards he had in his Hand. This was his last turn. He needed to do something, and he needed to do it quick. He looked to his Hand, and saw what he had available.

"Now it's time for my final turn, and with it, I'm winning this duel here and now!" Jason said as he took a card out of his Hand. "And it starts with this Spell Card! My second Chaotic Ritual!" He played the card, and a space on his field began to distort. "You've seen this card before, so I'll go ahead and spare you on the explanation. All you need to know is that I'm going to be making a Level 12 Ritual Monster this time around. And I'm doing so with the Level 4 DARK Messenger of Pure Chaos from my Deck, and from my Hand, my Level 8 LIGHT Dragon Queen of Pure Chaos."

He sent both Monsters into his Graveyard. "With that, I can Ritual Summon the Level 12 Dragon Soul of Pure Chaos! Come forth now!" Upon its owner's call, from the space of distortion, the dragon and the spellcaster that rode it appeared, the dragon giving a loud, powerful roar as it appeared on the Field.

"A Monster with 5000 Attack and Defense Points… and all from one Ritual Card…." Ets gave a little amused hum and closed his eyes. "Not bad, Jason… but I'm afraid I have to end this game right here… by activating the Trap Card that I placed at the beginning of my turn."

"You're activating your Trap right now?" Jason asked in surprise.

"By dueling you and watching your style of play, I surmised that you were going to summon a very strong Monster in order to take me down in one strike… that's why I had this lying in wait." Ets took his face-down card and flipped it face-up for Jason to see. "The Trap Card Torrential Tribute."

"Torrential Tribute?!" Jason exclaimed in shock.

"That's right. This powerful Trap Card can only be activated when a Monster is Summoned. Now, with this Trap Card activated, all Monsters on the Field are destroyed." Ets scanned his own empty field and went on, "Though, as you can see, there's nothing really on my Field to destroy… as for yours…"

Both Jason and Joel watched as a huge geiser shot up from the center of the field, consuming the entire field with an unusually dark blue water. Both of Jason's Monsters on the Field gave roars as the flood completely engulfed them, destroying both of them in an instant.

"Both of Jason's Monsters are destroyed!" Joel exclaimed. "Those were his only chance at defeating Ets!"

Ets gave a nod. "And now, without them, you will be unable to take out what little Life Points I have. And at the end of your turn, my Final Countdown will end this duel." He held his duel disk up one more time to show that one lone light that had yet to be lit. "This was your last turn, and you still couldn't defeat me."

Jason was silent as he kept his eyes on his opponent. Not a word was said by the young man. Both Joel and Ets assumed this was from him being unable to believe he couldn't win, and processing what had just happened in the duel.

"I will admit. You are quite the talented duelist. I can see now why someone would be so interested in testing your skills." Ets complimented as he shook his head. "But I'm afraid I was too well prepared for you. I saw into your strategies and calculated just how to defeat you… now then… if you would please, end your turn so that my Final Countdown can end this game of ours. This duel is over."

"...You're certainly right about one thing, Ets…" Jason began to say as he gave a little smile. "...This duel is indeed over… I'm about to end this duel and win the game right now."

"I appreciate you being confident, even to the bitter end…" Ets began to say. "But I'm afraid you can't win this duel. I still have 3600 Life Points left, and at this point, you wouldn't be able to summon another Monster with enough power to take me down."

"Sorry to say, but I'm afraid you're wrong on that one." Jason said with a smirk. "There's one Monster that you didn't take into consideration in all of your planning… a Monster that's been in this duel since the very beginning, and has been rearing to get another chance at you."

As soon as he said this, a portal of light appeared on the ground in front of Jason, surprising Joel and Ets both. Slowly a pair of bird-like wings slowly reached out from the portal, and began to flap as the creature they belonged to slowly rose out from it. In just a couple of seconds, the Pure Chaos Dragon Spirit was back on the field, roaring as it now stood on the battlefield once again.

"It's the Pure Chaos Dragon Spirit!" Joel exclaimed in surprise and relief.

"The Ritual Monster that you had summoned from the beginning? How is that possible?" Ets asked in shock.

"It's all thanks to its special ability." Jason explained. "Let me break it down for you. After my Pure Chaos Dragon Spirit has been properly Ritual Summoned, if he's in the Graveyard, and a Pure Chaos Ritual Monster with a higher level than it is destroyed, he can Special Summon himself back from the Graveyard. And with him having a Level of 10, my Level 12 Dragon Soul of Pure Chaos being destroyed gave him just what he needed to return."

Ets was silent for a second before chuckling a little bit. "I see. So that's why you chose not to activate your Genesis Dragon's ability after I destroyed it. You were keeping your Dragon Spirit in there just in case this situation came to pass…" he started before nodding. "Very impressive. You had a weapon lying in wait to be brought out from the very beginning."

"You prevented my Pure Chaos Dragon Spirit from taking you out on my very first turn… but this time, I'm going to make sure he finishes what he started!" Jason pointed at Ets and commanded his Monster to attack. "Go, my Dragon Spirit! Attack Ets directly and end this duel!" The Dragon flew slightly up into the air before releasing a blast of light energy at Ets. This time, unlike the beginning of the duel, Ets did nothing to stop the attack, taking it head on, growling a little bit as his Life Points were reduced to 0.

"Alright! Way to go, Jason! You won!" Joel cheered. Jason nodded and watched as the lights on Ets' duel disk all died down at once, and the purple that had appeared on his duel disk after playing Final Countdown faded away, leaving the duel disk back to its original dark gray color.

"That's the duel." Jason gave a little smile as he went on. "You really had me sweating a number of times there. I really got lucky on those last turns."

"And what I was told about your skills was perfectly accurate, it seems." Ets complimented with a little nod. "While I do keep my dueling mostly professional… I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this duel."

Jason nodded a little bit. He was about to say something else, but before he could, Ets took his duel disk off and took his Deck out, putting both of them back into his briefcase and shutting it. Once he made sure the briefcase was securely locked, he picked it up and turned back to Jason. "I apologize for interrupting your day with your friend. I shall be taking my leave now. Perhaps one day, I'll be hired to take you on in a duel again."

Jason simply smirked and gave a thumbs up. "Tell you what. Hired or not, you come and challenge me any time you like. I'll be more than happy to take you on again whenever you want." Ets gave a little nod and walked away, back into the mall to make his way back to the parking lot where he came in from.

"That was incredible, Jason!" Joel exclaimed as he ran over to him. "I didn't think you would be able to beat him after he played that Trap Card, but you managed to pull it off! Your cards are incredible!"

Jason gave a little smile and a nod, but his smile quickly disappeared into a contemplative frown as he looked down to the ground in thought.

"...Hey… what's wrong?" Joel asked. "You won the duel… why do you look so confused?"

"...Why would someone want to test my dueling skills out of the blue like that?" Jason asked, not to Joel in particular. "...And if they really wanted to know how well I could duel, why hire a duel mercenary, rather than coming and dueling me personally?"

Joel gave a little frown. He hadn't considered that until Jason brought it up, but it was true. Seemed like an odd move for someone to make. "...Well… you did say that you had some rematch with that Malcolm guy tomorrow." Joel brought up. "Maybe he did it, so that he could see what he would have to prepare for in the next duel?"

Jason, however, was quick to shoot this possibility down. "That's not like Malcolm at all. If he wanted to test me out, he would do it himself." He looked up to the sky a little bit, going through the possibilities of anyone who may have had a beef with him. "...Only other person I can think of is some crazy chick who thought I stole her card… but she knows I didn't steal it now, so she doesn't have much reason either…"

Joel hummed in thought, scratching the side of his head a little bit as he pondered on that question as well. Not able to think of any answers, though, he decided it wasn't too important, now that Jason had taken care of the mercenary. "...Well… I'm sure whoever it was, they'll make themself known to you in time." he said as he patted Jason's shoulder. "...What say we get back to looking around? Maybe find a couple of packs to buy."

Jason gave a nod of agreement as he and Joel went back into the mall. He wasn't sure what was going on, but whatever it was, he thought he would be ready for it when it came.

What Jason didn't know, however, was that he was going to be finding out a lot sooner than he thought.

As Ets left the mall, he drove his car into the entrance of the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare, where he parked it and left the car, being extra careful to make sure it was locked securely, just in case anyone might have gotten any funny ideas.

With his briefcase still in his car, he began to make his way into the Alleyway, his eyes constantly scanning for any potential threats as he made his way in. Even for someone like him, the stories of what went on in these parts haunted him, and he never went in unless absolutely necessary.

He kept walking until he came across a metal door on the left hand side and walked over to it. Being able to reside in a building in the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare was considered a luxury, afforded only to those who were tough enough to earn it. When you had a roof over your head like that, it was more than likely because you managed to take it for yourself, and was a sign that you were nobody to be messed with.

Once Ets got to the door, he knocked on it three times and waited quietly for an answer. After a few seconds, the door was opened by a large man wearing blue jeans and a white hoodie. His dark skin nearly blended into the prevailing darkness of inside the building, while his slightly grayed hair somewhat stood out among the darkness. He had to be either in his late 40s or early 50s, but he still looked like he could easily throw down if he absolutely had to.

Seeing Ets, the man gave a smile and opened the door wider, stepping to the side to let him in. Ets walked in, but didn't bother to make himself too comfortable. After all, he was only there to collect his payment and get out of there.

"So…? How did it go?" the man asked as he closed the door, leaving the room in near complete darkness, save for a single light over a wooden table, which the man sat at as he waited for the answer to his question.

Ets cleared his throat and began to speak in his usual professional manner. "He's somewhat unrefined in some places, and relies quite heavily on raw power… but overall, he is an exceptional duelist with very powerful cards at his disposal."

The man nodded and reached behind the chair he sat at, opening a vault that was hidden in the darkness and taking out a stack of cash and setting it on the table. "...Before you take your payment, answer me this one question." he started. "...If my little friend were to go through with this rematch of his… do you think he would have a chance in winning?"

Ets paused for a moment, considering his words carefully before he responded. "...It's a bit difficult for me to predict, based solely on what you've told me about him…" He shook his head and went on. "...It's possible for sure… but if what you've told me is correct, based on what I've seen from Jason… the outcome of that duel will most likely be a victory for Jason."

The man nodded in understanding. "I see…" He pondered a little bit before putting his hand on the stack of cash and sliding it over closer to Ets. "Very well, then. Here's your payment in full. Thank you for your service."

Ets took the stack of cash, quickly running his thumb through it to make sure it was the exact amount he was promised, and putting on a special monocle of his to make sure that the money was real. After confirming its legitimacy, he nodded and put the money in his pocket. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you. Good day, sir."

The man watched Ets leave the building, closing the door behind him and leaving the man in near complete darkness once again. "...Hmhmhm… if I had known he was that good, I wouldn't have even bothered giving him the chance to begin with. He would just have to fork over that card anyway."

He took out his cellphone and began to dial a number on it. "No matter… I'm sure he'll appreciate this little gift of mine…" After dialing the number, he started the call and put it to his ear, waiting for the person on the other end to pick up. "...Hey there. It's me… get the others ready… I think it's time we pay this Jason Titan a little visit."


	9. Standing Up

Monday morning was finally there. In a few short hours, after his classes for the day were done, his rematch against Malcolm would finally be there.

He almost couldn't sleep the night before. It took him a good hour or two after going to bed before he was finally able to get some sleep. He not only was nervous about the rematch, and anxious to find out just why Malcolm was so desperate to get it, but also because of what happened the day before. The fact that someone was sending somebody after him, even if it was just to duel, disturbed him a bit.

Nevertheless, he decided he would try to calm himself down over a good breakfast before he had to head to class. He had woken up a bit earlier than he usually did, and his mother was already gone for work by the time he got out of bed. As a means to treat himself before the big rematch, rather than just going out to get something to eat, he decided to try making it himself.

He had found some of the bacon that they had in the fridge, and a block of cheddar cheese that had yet to be open as well. He decided that a couple of breakfast sandwiches would be good to start the morning. He also started to brew some coffee as well. He wasn't really that big of a coffee person, but with a breakfast like that, it would make for a good start to the day.

He fried the bacon first, toasting the bread as he did so. When the bacon was done frying to his preferred doneness, he put them onto a plate with a paper towel to soak up some of the excess grease, while using the bacon fat still in the pan to fry the eggs. After that, he heavily buttered his toast and cut the cheese up, bringing it all together when it was done for a couple of bacon egg and cheese sandwiches.

After plating them up and pouring himself a mug of coffee with some creamer, he sat down at the table and began to enjoy his own homemade breakfast. A couple of times, he fancied the thought of being a cook or a chef of some kind. He would have quite a bit of training to do to get to that point, but it was still something to consider.

After he finished his first breakfast sandwich, there was a knock on the door. He looked over to the direction where the knock came from, but eventually shrugged it off. It was probably just the mailman or someone, letting them know that they were leaving the mail on the front porch. Usually they would ring the doorbell, but he supposed they just wanted to knock instead. Either way, it wasn't too big of a deal.

As he began to reach for his second sandwich, however, he looked back to the door when he heard the knocking again, this time being a bit louder. He paused for a moment and waited to see if the knock came again. Sure enough, after a few seconds, the knocking started again. Whoever was out there, they certainly didn't seem to be going any time soon.

After waiting again, only to get a fourth wave of knocking, Jason decided that whoever was out there wasn't going to be leaving until someone answered the door, and since Jason was the only one currently in the house, it had to be him. As he got up and walked to the door, which was followed by a fifth wave of knocking, he reasoned to himself that it was probably some desperate salesman of sorts that would scurry off when Jason told him that he wasn't the one who owned the house.

When he opened the door, however, he was met with someone that he had never seen around the neighborhood before. He was quite tall, being roughly around Malcolm's height, with black hair which complimented his dark skin, save for a bit of gray in his hair. He wore a pair of sunglasses, a dark pair of blue jeans, and a black t-shirt with a white skull with a punk mohawk on it. He certainly didn't look like someone trying to sell or deliver anything.

"...Can I help you?" Jason asked, a little cautious about the sudden appearance of this man.

"We'll find out right now." the man said. "You must be Jason Titan, am I right?"

"Uhhhh… yeah, that would be me…" Jason looked around, trying to find some kind of delivery truck to show where this man came from. He found no truck in sight; only a black car parked directly behind his, presumably belonging to the man he was speaking to. "...I'm sorry. Have we… met before…?"

"This will be our first time meeting… but you've got quite the reputation about you, Jason." The man gave a little smirk and a nod. "...First you beat Malcolm Alexson in a duel, defeating his best card for everyone to see, but you also managed to defeat my dueling mercenary too. You've got quite a bit of dueling talent, I guess."

"Wait… you were the one who sent Ets after me?" Jason asked as his heart began to beat a bit harder. He was getting a really bad feeling about this. He should have just closed the door on the man right then and there, but he needed an answer. "But why…? And how do you know about what happened between Malcolm and I? Are you a member of our school or something?"

"I could spend the time to explain it all to you…" The man paused for a moment to take off his sunglasses, wincing a bit from the bright sunlight before his eyes adjusted. He let Jason look into those eyes of his. They were blue in color, but looked more gray from the lighting. "...But why bother wasting both of our precious times? Especially when I have a gift to give to you."

Jason began to shake a little bit. His heart was really starting to pound now, as the hairs on the back of his neck began to stand. He knew he was in danger. "Uhhhh… well, that's very kind of you… but I have to finish getting ready for school… if you would please, leave it somewhere here, and I'll pick it up when I get home." His voice came out quickly and carefully, as he wasted no time in trying to close the door quickly.

The man, however, already knew the boy was going to try to do that. Jason hadn't noticed, but by the time he was starting to excuse himself, the man's foot was already in between the door and its frame. When Jason attempted to close the door, the foot was already in the way, keeping Jason from shutting the door on him.

"Please, please. There's no need to be shy." The man gave a devilish smirk as he put his hand on the door and began to slowly push it up wider, his other hand at his side, balled into a fist, showing that he was ready to throw down. "...I insist."

Jason's mind was racing and his heart pounding as he watched the man open the door and let himself in. He knew exactly what this man was planning on doing with him, and he knew that he wasn't going to be able to fight him off. His only option was to get out of there and call for help.

Abandoning the notion of trying to keep the man from entering the house, he immediately turned around and began to run away. He began to run towards the back door. If he could just get out of the house, then he could get to the neighbor's house and call the police. As he continued to run, he didn't seem to notice that the man wasn't running after him, merely following him at a casual place, obviously in no hurry of trying to stop him.

Jason got to the back door and yanked it open, only to find another man, around the same height as the last one, standing there, waiting for him. Jason let out a short shriek as he saw the man. He also began to walk in the house, causing Jason to run away again. This time, he began to head to the kitchen. There was a phone in the kitchen, as well as a couple of knives. He didn't want to have to fight, but he would at least have some way of defending himself now.

When he got there, however, his hopes were immediately dashed as he saw yet another man standing in front of the knife holder, holding the phone in his hand and moving it around mockingly. "I'm sorry. Your call cannot be completed at this time."

Jason turned around from where he just ran, watching as the man that came in from the back came walking in, looking as the first man came in from the other way. He was completely trapped now, with no way of getting out of this.

"No… no! Please!" Jason screamed as he backed up as close to the wall as he could, his heart pounding and his skin as pale as a ghost. "Why are you doing this to me?!"

The first man gave a little smirk and a nod, as the other two began to move closer, clenching their fists and cracking their knuckles as they did. "This isn't anything personal, kid… we just can't have some brat ruining our reputation and beating someone who was once our own."

"No! No!" Jason sunk to the ground, his back completely against the wall as the two thugs continued to approach him. "Help me! Somebody help me!"

Jason's cries for help, unfortunately, fell on deaf ears. Nobody would know what was happening to him until it was too late.

For Frederick, the day started out like any other day. Waking up, getting ready for class and heading out. He was quite anxious for Jason's rematch against Malcolm that was supposed to happen today. He would be getting a front row seat to watch it, and he was quite curious to see how both of the duelists would be prepared for each other this time.

When he arrived at his classes and got started, however, he was surprised to find that Jason was nowhere to be found. It wasn't uncommon for Jason to show up a bit late to a couple of his classes, but he didn't even show up at all. This had Frederick confused and somewhat concerned. While it wasn't the first time that Jason hadn't made it to a class, it didn't seem right for him to not show up when he had a big duel coming up later.

Thinking that he may not be feeling good, Frederick waited for class to finish before he would check his phone and look for any missed calls or messages from Jason. Surely if he was sick, he would call him to let him know that the duel wasn't going to happen, or maybe even to ask Frederick to let the others know that he wasn't going to be able to make it.

When class was over and he checked his phone, however, he found that he didn't get any notifications from Jason at all. No missed calls, no texts letting him know what was going on… complete radio silence from Jason.

This was really beginning to worry Frederick. It made no sense for him to not show up and say absolutely nothing to him if he wasn't going to show up. Was he still mad about him because he couldn't tag along with him yesterday?

Hoping to get some kind of answer, Frederick called Jason's phone several times, but each time, he always got sent to voicemail. Six more attempts at trying to call his best friend later, and Frederick was starting to get impatient along with his worry. Perhaps this was some kind of joke that Jason was trying to play on him, trying to get him all worried for some reason. Whatever the reason was, Frederick didn't appreciate it.

Frederick began to look around in any of the parts of the university that he thought Jason could have gone. He checked the dining halls, the university center, and the different class halls, but Jason was nowhere to be seen. He asked around different people, but none of them knew where he was either.

The last place that Frederick could think to look in the university was the parking lot where he had always always parked. Perhaps he was already out there, just chilling and waiting for the time to get his rematch with Malcolm. Maybe they decided to start early, and both of them just decided to not show up to their classes that day in order to get as much time as possible. He headed out to the parking lot, hoping to find Jason there.

When he got there, however, he only found Malcolm, standing by his motorbike in the parking lot, checking his phone and looking around from time to time, a look of impatience plastered on his face. It appeared that he, too, was waiting for Jason, and had no idea where he was either.

Now Frederick was starting to get really worried now. Not only had Jason not shown up at class at all, and wasn't there for his rematch, but he hadn't told anyone where he was going. For all he knew, something may have happened to Jason, and without a way to get to his house, as he didn't have a car of his own, he would have now way of finding out for sure. He thought about going over to Malcolm and asking him if he knew anything, but he immediately decided against that, deciding that if he did know anything, he probably wouldn't be standing around like that.

The only other place that he hoped he could find Jason at is the asian buffet they liked to go to for lunch after class. Knowing Jason, it was possible that he had just gone to get himself some food before he would go to have his rematch, if he was even around at all.

He walked his way to the restaurant, which felt really awkward and a little scary when he was doing it on his own, and got himself a table there when he got there. He managed to convince them to let him pay up front rather than wait, since they weren't very busy at all, and he got himself some food, being sure to look around carefully to see if Jason happened to be sitting there.

Not quite to his surprise, but still to his worry, Jason was nowhere to be found. Frederick was left to sit on his own with his food, pulling out his laptop and desperately looking through his emails, hoping that, by some miracle, Jason had sent something to him. Still, he found absolutely nothing from his friend.

"Come on, man… where the Hell are you?" he muttered under his breath as he slunked into his seat in defeat. He wouldn't be finding any messages any time soon, it looked like. With nothing else to do, he just silently began to eat the food he had gotten, while also skimming through his laptop. He had never eaten at this place before without Jason sitting across from him and talking while eating enough food to feed a small army. It was kind of lonely for Frederick.

So deep in his thoughts and his worries was Frederick that, for once, he didn't notice as Carrie and her friends walked in. Only the blue-haired friend and one of the black-haired friends showed up this time, making them a group of three instead of four today. They talked as they got to their table, as was the usual.

"Alright. Here's a shot out of the cannon for you." Carrie's blue-haired friend began to ask. "...If you could have any card that only existed in the video games made, but you could only choose one card, what would it be?"

"Hmmmm… that's a tricky one. Don't know a whole lot about the video games…" Carrie began to say as she took a seat. "...If I had to choose one, though, I guess I would pick… Invisible Wire."

"Really now? Don't you think a card like that is a bit of an easy answer?" the black haired girl teased before looking up in thought. "As for me, I would probably go for Psycho Puppet. It's shown up in a number of games. I'm honestly a bit surprised it's never been made."

"That's a bit of a double pick, isn't it?" Carrie asked as she crossed her arms. "Psycho Puppet is a Ritual Monster, after all. Gonna need the Ritual Spell to bring it out in the first place?"

"They could totally make it just a regular Monster. Yamadron and Millenium Shield weren't Ritual Monsters in real life, and they made them so in the video games. Why wouldn't they be able to do the opposite if they had to?"

"Psycho Puppet is a really scary Monster…" the blue-haired girl said with a little shudder. "...I don't think I would want to see that Monster coming at me during a duel."

"What about you?" Carrie questioned as she raised her eyebrow. "You no doubt already have an idea of what you would want if you asked the question, don't you?"

"Of course I do. If I had to choose any card to take from the video games and make it into a real card, it would be Nemuriko. It's just so cute! I just want to take its little scarf and snuggle with it!"

Upon hearing this, both Carrie and her other friend looked at each other, both clearly thinking the same thing and then looking back at the other girl. "...Uhhhh… actually, I hate to break this to you…" Carrie began with a little chuckle. "...Nemuriko is a real card."

"...Wait… really…? I've never seen that card before."

"Well… it's real… it was one of the first cards to ever come out, I'm pretty sure…"

"Well then, I need to get one! I'll put it in my Deck, and I'll love it forever."

"Heh. Well, you all know what I would love to get right now?" Carrie asked with a little scoff. "I'd love to get some food right now. Come on. We're in a restaurant. Let's eat."

They got up and began to get their food, while the blue-haired girl tried to come up with other cards that she would like to see from the video games become real cards. Each one of them she listed, however, was already a real card, and so the black-haired girl was able to shoot down each of her suggestions as they got their food.

Carrie, on the other hand, had noticed as she was up getting her food that Frederick was sitting all by himself. She figured that perhaps he had come here to eat with Jason again, and perhaps Jason was just going to the bathroom or something. However, she clearly realized that that wasn't the case, both from Frederick's solemn expression, and the lack of empty dishes at the table.

Once they got themselves situated at their table again with their food, Carrie looked back at Frederick, waiting to see if anything had changed. Nothing did. Jason was still nowhere to be found, and Frederick was still all alone.

"Hey, Fred." Carrie called out to him, getting both his attention and the attention of her friends.

"Oh… uhhh… hey there, Carrie." Frederick responded with a little nod. "I… didn't notice you came in."

"Yeah, I think I noticed… where's Jason? I don't usually see either of you two without the other."

Frederick looked down at his plate and sighed. "...I don't really know… he wasn't in any of his classes today, and I haven't heard anything from him since yesterday… I'm starting to get worried about him. It's not like him to miss today, of all days…"

Carrie was silent for a moment as she looked over at their own table. Since one of their friends wasn't around with them this time, there was an empty spot still at their table.

"Shouldn't be here all by yourself, should you?" she asked as she gestured him over to their table. "Come on over here. Sit with us."

Frederick looked surprised by this, and couldn't help but blush a little bit as he was told this. "Oh… alright. Thank you." He got up, picked up his stuff and his plate and began to slowly walk over.

As Frederick was walking over, Carrie's friends began to giggle a bit. She looked over to them, seeing that they were looking at her in a way that showed that they were getting a couple ideas of what was going on. "...What?" she asked quietly so Frederick wouldn't hear her. "He's a friend of mine."

"Oh, it's fine. You don't need to explain anything." the black-haired girl responded with a bit of a snicker. "We understand completely."

"You two…" Carrie grumbled as Frederick nervously took his seat across from Carrie, next to the blue-haired girl. He was obviously quite nervous, being around not just Carrie, but also her two friends.

"...I… don't suppose you heard anything from Jason, have you?" Frederick asked as he looked at Carrie. "...Particularly some time today?"

Carrie gave a little hum and took out her phone. "Hold on… let me check for you." She began to look through her texts to see if she had gotten anything new from Jason, while also looking through her call logs.

To this, both of her friends began to whisper to each other while giggling. "Wow… so not only is she inviting the little guy to sit with us, but she has his friend's number on her phone as well." the black-haired girl said as she giggled. "Our friend Carrie really knows how to get around, doesn't she?"

"I think it's really sweet." the blue-haired girl responded as she began to whisper in a bit of a sing-song tone. "Just imagine when both of them finally decide to ask her out. It's going to be a love triangle to decide who can win her affection."

Hearing her friends, while still looking through her phone, Carrie kicked their legs from underneath the table with one side-sweep of her foot. Both of her friends gave yelps of pain and bent down a little bit, holding their legs and grumbling a bit. Frederick, having heard nothing of what the other girls were saying, looked at them in surprise, then back to Carrie, who simply pretended she didn't notice what had happened, and was still looking through her phone.

"Hmmmm… nope. Can't say I have." she said as she put her phone down. "He tried to call me last night, but I was busy at an event, so I couldn't pick up… you really haven't heard anything from him?"

"Nothing." Frederick replied with a sigh as he looked down. "He wasn't at any of his classes, he hasn't sent me any messages… nothing but radio silence from him ever since yesterday."

Carrie gave a little hum of thought as she crossed her arms a bit. "Well… it could just be that he's not feeling well, Fred… people get sick, after all. He probably just didn't feel good enough to come today."

"I thought about that, too… but…" Frederick sighed before he went on. "...If that was the case, he still would have let me know what was going on… today would be too important for him to just not show up for no good reason."

Frederick noticed as all three of the girls gave him puzzled looks, not really sure what he meant by that. "...Well… you all know how Jason defeated Malcolm in a duel a few weeks ago, right?" he asked.

"Oh… yeah, I remember that." the black-haired girl said before giving a little scoff. "That guy can be such a huge prick… can't tell you how happy I was to hear that your friend gave him the loss he deserved."

"Right…" Frederick responded with a nod before he continued to explain. "Well, the two of them arranged to have a rematch after all of their classes were finished. They were supposed to duel each other on the campus for the other students to see… Jason isn't one to just back out of something like that, especially against a duelist like Malcolm."

"Why would anybody agree to have a rematch with Mal the Monster?" the blue-haired girl asked as she shuddered. "He's so mean, and likes to make others ante a card just to duel him."

"From what Jason said in the call he gave me yesterday, it was something he owed him." Frederick explained. "Apparently they came to an agreement to have a rematch last week. It was the only way that Jason could get Mal to agree to…" He stopped himself from going on, and just looked up to Carrie, knowing she would know what he meant, as he still wasn't really allowed to talk about what really happened that night with the Psyche Brothers.

Carrie immediately realized what Frederick was talking about and simply gave a nod. She figured that Jason was going to have to promise Malcolm something he would have really wanted in order to get his help that night. No doubt he would be looking to try to save face by beating Jason in a duel after losing to him that one day.

Almost as if on cue, Malcolm walked into the buffet, his hands stuffed in his jean pockets. He was looking very irritated. Not to be expected that he would be. To spend days preparing for a rematch, only to have the other person not show up, would be enough to irritate even the most calm, forgiving duelists, which Malcolm certainly was not.

As he was being taken to his table, he noticed Frederick sitting down, and stopped by him. "Hey… Frederick, right?" he asked. "...You seen that punk Jason anywhere?"

Frederick looked up at Malcolm nervously. "Uhhhh… no. I haven't." he stammered. "...I was hoping to find him here, but… he doesn't seem to be here."

Malcolm gave a growl of irritation. "I see how it is… agree to have a duel and chicken out at the last second?" he grumbled as he walked over to his seat. "Just wait until I get my hands on that chump… I'll be sure to knock him on his ass twice as hard for making a jackass out of me."

"Uhhh… yeah. You're welcome." the black-haired girl grumbled under her breath as she shook her head. "Why does he have to be so rude…?"

Carrie was silent as she stared at Malcolm, who sat by himself, tapping his fingers on the table as he was trying to cool down. "...If you ask me… I think we've got a person of interest for where to look for Jason."

"A person of interest?" Frederick repeated as he and the other two looked at Carrie in surprise. "What do you mean, Carrie?"

"Think about it for a moment. Doesn't it seem oddly coincidental that, on the very day that Mal and Jason are supposed to have their rematch, in front of everybody, that Jason just so happens to not show up?" Carrie questioned as she looked at the other three. "Mal obviously wants to mend his reputation because of what happened to him the last time they dueled… so what better way to do that than to make it seem like the other side was too chicken to show up?"

"You… you're saying that Malcolm may have had something to do with Jason's silence…? You really think he would do something like that?"

"Even if he wasn't involved with Jason's seeming disappearance, he, if anyone, would have some idea of what's going on. He's gotta know something."

"Well, I personally wouldn't put it past him." the black-haired girl responded, nodding in agreement with Carrie. "...He probably did something to Jason, to make sure he wouldn't show up, so that he wouldn't have to worry about getting his ass kicked again."

"But… if that's true, then why would he ask us if we knew where he was?" the blue-haired girl asked. "...Doesn't seem like something someone would do if they already knew where someone was, especially if they might have had something to do with it."

The black-haired girl, fully convinced with Carrie's suspicion, quickly had an answer for this. "Unless he's trying to spread the word without anyone realizing it… if he acts like he doesn't know where Jason is either, people would buy more into him just not showing up."

"But… is that really something that Mal would do?" Frederick asked. "I admit, I don't know very much about him… but from what I've seen so far, he doesn't seem like the guy that would take such an underhanded way out of a rematch… do you really think he would do something to Jason, and not go through with this rematch that he asked from him?"

"I think there's only one way to find out." Carrie stood from her chair and gestured to her two friends to get up. "Come on, girls. Let's go get some answers."

Her two friends looked at each other for a moment before giving nods and standing up. They were nervous, but with Carrie out to lead them, they were confident they would be ok. "Carrie, hold on a minute." Frederick called after her, but neither her nor her friends listened. Frederick had a feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

Malcolm, meanwhile, was sitting down, his hand and elbow still quietly on the table as he was trying to settle down, and think of a reason as to why Jason wouldn't show up, or at the very least, send him a message to tell him what was going on. It irritated him that Jason would go back on his word like that, especially when time was of the essence for Malcolm. He only had a few more days before his time was up, and he didn't have too many more opportunities to work with.

He didn't notice the three girls coming over to him and standing at his table before Carrie spoke up, her voice a sharp contrast to the silence he had been enjoying just a moment ago. "Hey. Mal. We got some questions for you."

His eyes immediately opened as he was snapped out of his thoughts, he turned his head to the side to see the three girls standing and staring at them. Carrie had her hands on her hips, her face a strong glower that would be enough to make most of the tough and cool guys shrink down in terror. As for her two friends, they kept behind Carrie, not standing out like her, but still trying to give the toughest looks they could manage to hide their nervousness.

"...If you three are here looking for a date, I'm not interested in either of you." Malcolm grumbled as he turned his head away.

"Cut the crap, Mal. We want to know what's going on with Jason." Carrie said sternly, keeping her hands on her hips and her eyes not leaving Mal for a second. "Where is he?"

Malcolm looked up at Carrie with a raise of his eyebrow. "If I knew where he was, I wouldn't have asked his little friend if he was around here, now would I?"

"Don't play dumb! We know that you had a rematch planned against Jason that was supposed to take place today!" the black-haired girl exclaimed, finally getting the courage to speak. "We know that you would like nothing more than to mend your reputation after Jason handed you that loss on a silver platter."

Malcolm almost burst into hysterical laughter upon hearing this, just managing to keep it to a low chuckle before he began to speak again. "And let me guess. You think that, because my reputation is oh so important to me, and that the rematch between Jason and I is supposed to happen today, I would make sure that something would happen to him. By doing so, I'm painting him to be a coward, and showing everyone that I'm so tough, even someone who beat me once wouldn't want to take me on again. Is that it?"

Both of Carrie's friends looked at each other before the blue-haired girl began to speak, stammering her words due to her nervousness, despite how much she tried to hide it. "S-so… you're admitting to the crime then?"

"What I'm admitting is that you three are the saddest dumb broads I've ever met in my life." Both of Carrie's friends gasped, their eyes wide in shock at what was just said to them. Carrie kept her composure, though her already harsh frown became more like a death stare, her fingers tightening around her own hips in insult and irritation.

"Let's make one thig clear, you got that?" Malcolm started. "I don't have to do anything to Jason. I'm not afraid of that chump. He got lucky the last time we dueled. If we were to duel again, I would happily put him back in the ground, like I should have the last time we dueled."

"If you're so certain of that…" Carrie started, still not having backed off a single inch. "Then surely you'd have no problems with telling us where he is."

"You got those little pom poms of yours stuck in your ears, or are you just plain deaf. I can't tell you what I don't know."

"I don't believe you. I think you're just trying to keep us from finding where he is, so you don't have to take him on again."

"Oh, is that what you think?" Malcolm asked, his voice rising as he was now starting to get sick of this conversation. "Well, how about I tell you what I think?" He finally got out of his seat and stood up. His height and his physical traits intimidated both of Carrie's friends, who backed off a bit and hid slightly behind Carrie. Carrie, however, didn't budge a single inch, standing brave and tall against Malcolm, even when he finally rose up.

"Even if I did have something to do with Jason not being here, or even if I did know where he was, what makes you think that I would tell you?" Malcolm growled. "What's going on with Jason and I is none of your damn business. So why don't you just piss off and leave me alone?"

"If you're not going to tell me what you know, then I guess I'm just going to have to get it out of you." she said as she took her Deck out. "I'll force it out of you in a duel."

"Me? Duel you?" Malcolm asked with an amused scoff. "I've already beaten you once before, and my duel is with Jason, not you. Stick with your asskissers of friends over there. I'm sure they'd be more than happy to let you win for your own ego."

"You always talk a big game. Now it's time for you to shut up and walk the walk." Carrie stepped backwards to her table, taking her pom pom-like duel disk out of her backpack and putting it on. "Put your duel disk on and face me. Or are you too scared that I'll put you to your place?"

Malcolm gave a little scoff. "If you're so desperate to have me beat you into the ground again, then be my guest." he said as he took his own duel disk and Deck out of his backpack and put them on. "I could use a punching bag to blow off some steam anyway."

"Guys, come on! This isn't going to do us any good!" Frederick tried to tell them, but neither of the two of them listened as they stood there, putting their Decks into their duel disks, activating them.

"You got this, Carrie! Show this asshole whatfor!" her black-haired friend cheered on as she and the other girl backed off. The staff was already starting to complain at them that they didn't like duels being held in their restaurants, but neither of the two seemed to care.

They stood there, with their duel disks activated and ready, glaring at each other, but neither of them drew their opening hands. They seemed to hesitate as they continued to leer at each other, possibly not wanting to duel, because of how they worked together to take down the Psyche Brothers once before, or just wanting the other to back off so they wouldn't have to have an unnecessary duel. The entire restaurant was filled with a near suffocating tension as everyone waited for the duel to begin.

Before things could get any worse, however, Frederick felt his phone give one long vibrate, notifying him that he had gotten a text message. When he took his phone out and looked at it, he saw that he got a message from one of the other students, who sent him a link to a news website, and saying that he should take a look at it if he was still looking for Jason.

"H-hey! You guys! Look at this!" Frederick called out to both Carrie and Malcolm. Finally getting both of their attention. Carrie quickly walked over to see what Frederick was wanting to show them, while Malcolm hesitated for a moment before doing so as well.

They both stood on each side of Frederick's and looked over his shoulder as he clicked the link that was sent to him. He was sent to the website, and a video began to play. Frederick turned it up so that they could hear what was being said.

The video was a news report about a breaking and entering and attack that happened earlier that morning. "Police were called in earlier this morning about an assault taking place earlier this morning." the anchorman said as footage of a certain house was shown. "Neighbors reported screaming and crashing from the house, and called authorities immediately.

Frederick's skin immediately went pale, his heart plummeting and his eyes widening as he heard that and saw the house in question. "That's Jason's house!" he screamed.

Both Carrie and Malcolm were shocked to hear this as they kept watching. As if to confirm what they had just figured out, the anchorman once again appeared on the screen, with a picture of Jason to the right of him. "The victim of this violent attack was Jason Titan. Authorities claim that there was nothing stolen from the house, and are unsure of the motives behind this attack. The perpetrators responsible are currently being searched for, and Jason is at the hospital with minor injuries."

Frederick went full on panic mode as he saw this. "Oh my God! Jason's hurt! Jason's hurt!" he shouted as he immediately took his backpack and began to run out the door. "I've gotta go see him!"

"F-Fred! Wait for me!" Carrie called after him as she immediately put her Deck and duel disk away as she ran out with him. Malcolm was too stunned to move for a moment, but eventually followed in Carrie's footsteps, heading out as soon as he packed his stuff back up, leaving the amount of money he owed on the front counter, despite not having eaten anything.

"Hey! Carrie! Where are you going?" the blue-haired girl tried to call after Carrie, but her efforts were for not.

"We didn't bring that much money with us!" her other friend exclaimed, but got no results as well. Carrie had already left, and both of her friends looked at each other, realizing they were going to have to work out who was going to pay for their table.

Frederick was losing his mind as Carrie joined him outside. "We gotta get over to the hospital! We have to make sure he's ok!"

"Fred, Fred! Calm down!" Carrie exclaimed as she put her hands on her shoulders. "Just take a moment to relax… we don't have any way of getting to Jason. Neither of us have a car."

Just as they were saying this, Malcolm got onto his motorcycle and started it up. He drove over to where the two were standing and stopped. "I'll take us there. Get on."

Frederick and Carrie both looked at each other before looking back to Malcolm. "I-is that really safe?" Frederick asked. "I don't think we're supposed to have more than two people on one of those at a time."

"Do you want to see Jason?" Malcolm asked, not even waiting for them to give an answer before yelling a command at them. "Then get on!"

With no other choice if they wanted to get Jason, they both got on the motorbike, Carrie sitting behind Malcolm and Frederick sitting behind her. Once everybody was on, Malcolm took off quite quickly, going well above the speed limit, as per usual. Neither Carrie nor Frederick really said anything, however, nor did they really care. They both knew that nobody was going to stop them, and all that mattered at the moment was making sure Jason was alright.

They got to the hospital in just under thirty five minutes, and immediately rushed to the front counter after Malcolm had parked the bike. "Excuse me. Is Jason Titan here?" Carrie asked the receptionist, speaking quite quickly from her worry.

"Hold on. Let me check." The receptionist began to type on her computer, taking a few seconds before looking back at the group. "Down the hall to the right. Room 307."

"Thank you so much." Carrie said as they began to head that way. They kept themselves from running, not wanting to get in trouble, and instead walked briskly over to the room where Jason was in. They didn't even bother knocking, and instead burst into the room in their anxiousness to see what had become of Jason.

As the receptionist had said, he was laying in that hospital bed, much of his body covered in bandages, and his right arm in a sling. The bruises that were visible on his face were quite numerous, and a few parts of them were swollen. He was silently groaning a bit, obviously in pain still.

"Jason!" Frederick cried out as, without thinking, he jumped onto Jason's bed in a tight hug.

"Ow ow ow ow! Easy!" Jason shrieked in pain, immediately reminding Frederick that he was in serious pain, causing him to back off a bit.

"Jason! Are you ok?!" Carrie asked as she got up to him, keeping her cool a bit better than Frederick, but still happy to see that he was alright. "What on earth happened to you?!"

"I… I don't know!" Jason exclaimed, still trying to calm down from what had happened, on the verge of tears just from thinking about it. "I was just eating breakfast, and all of a sudden, this guy showed up at my door, and had his friends beat me up! I couldn't do anything against them!"

While Malcolm stayed back and watched on, happy to see Jason was still in one piece, even if he didn't outwardly show it like the other two, he felt his phone vibrate as he got two text messages. When he took his phone out and looked at what he had just gotten, his eyes widened and his blood went cold.

The two messages didn't say much, but they said it loud and clear to him. They both came from the same person, and read, "We need to talk. Meet me at our hideout" and "I hope you enjoy your little gift"

Malcolm began to shake a little bit in a mix of shock and anger, as he quietly listened as the question of who did this to Jason came up. "...I've never met him in my entire life... He… he was large… his hair was kind of gray-"

"Was he black?" Malcolm suddenly asked as he turned around to look at Jason.

Immediately, the entire room went quiet as everyone now looked at Malcolm, completely caught off guard from Malcolm's question. Frederick finally began to speak after a long awkward moment of silence. "Uhhhh… Mal, I don't think now's a good time to be asking-"

Malcolm completely ignored Frederick, stepping up closer to Jason. "Was the man who did this to you black?! Yes or no?!" he demanded, causing Jason to flinch and cower a bit from his tone.

"Y-yes! He was black!" Jason finally answered with a panicked nod.

"Did he say why he was attacking you?!"

"N-no! All he told me was that I somehow ruined his and his friends' reputation, and they couldn't allow that! I don't know why they did this to me!"

Malcolm, however, already had all of the answers he needed. "You God damn lying son of a bitch!" he growled fiercely as he looked at his phone. "You went back on your word!"

"Wait… you know who did this?" Frederick asked. "How? Who are they? Why did they attack Jason?!"

Before Malcolm could be forced to say anything further, they heard the sound of high heels running, and the panicked yellings of a mother approaching the room. "Where is he?! Where's my baby boy?!"

Soon after, Jason's mother came in, wearing a pair of black business pants and a dark pink shirt. Her hair was a bright blonde and very long, and her face looked quite a bit like Jason's, with some of the details on Jason's face looking as if they had just been directly copied from his mother's.

Once she came in, she pushed her way past the others and latched onto her son, giving the expected reaction of kisses and loud sobs, going on and on about how she should have been there to protect him, and that she was going to find out whoever did this to him and get them back.

While this was going on, Malcolm decided that that would be a good time to go and confront the one who had sent him those messages, now knowing who it was that attacked Jason. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Carrie asked as she began to follow behind him.

Malcolm didn't answer her, simply giving her a command to stay there as he was walking back to get on his motorcycle.

"Oh, no. You're not going off and getting away from this one. You've got some explaining to do!" Carrie demanded. Malcolm didn't say anything, simply continuing his way to the parking lot. "Hey! I'm talking to you! You're not leaving now!"

"This has nothing to do with you!" Malcolm finally replied as he kept walking. "Keep out of business this isn't yours!"

"This became my business when my friends started to get hurt!" Carrie yelled back, which finally got Malcolm to stop and stand there silently. "Maybe this was just your business a while ago, but now this involves me too, now that my friends are getting hurt!"

Malcolm gave a little sigh before turning around and speaking to Carrie. "You're not going to like where I'm going. I promise you that."

Carrie stepped a little closer as she said, "I'm able to take care of myself, no matter where we go." She made sure to put emphasis on the word 'we', to let Malcolm know that she wasn't going to back down at all.

Realizing just that, Malcolm reluctantly allowed her to come with him. "Ok… but don't say I didn't warn you." With nothing else to say between the two at the moment, they both got onto Malcolm's motorcycle again, and took off.

It took them just a few short minutes to reach their destination. Neither of them said anything to each other throughout the whole ride. Both of them just wanted to get whatever answers each of them had and be through with this as soon as possible. For Carrie, however, she was about to be a little more apprehensive on getting the answers to her questions.

"We're here." Malcolm announced simply as he parked his motorcycle outside the alleyway entrance, getting off and giving a bit of a stretch as he stepped off the bike.

"Wait… but, this is…" Carrie started to say before looking at Malcolm, shocked. "Are you crazy?! What the Hell are we doing in the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare?! Do you know what happens to people who come into this place?!"

"A lot more than you could ever imagine." Malcolm responded simply as he looked back at her. "You said you wanted answers, and that this was your business now, didn't you? Well, this is where our business leads us, and this is where we're going to get the answers. Now come on. Let's get going."

"You're insane. I've heard horror stories about this place… this is where all the scum of the earth are. It's so dangerous that even the police don't dare to go in here!" Carrie exclaimed. "I'm not going in there! You'd have to be completely out of your mind to want to go in a place like this!"

Malcolm gave a little shrug. "I did warn you that you wouldn't want to be where I'm headed… but if you want to stay here, all by yourself, where anybody could come in and get you all alone, suit yourself." With nothing else to say, Malcolm began to walk into the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare, looking to get some answers.

"You can't be serious… Malcolm! Where are you going?! Don't leave me out here alone!" she called out to him. Malcolm didn't respond, simply continuing on his way in, leaving Carrie all by herself near his bike.

"...Yeah. Yeah. This is just great…" Carrie started as she began to pace around nervously, throwing her hands up in the air as she spoke to herself. "He could have told me that this is where he was going if he really didn't want me to follow that bad… I don't want to be anywhere near here…"

She looked around for a brief moment, her head frantically turning back and forth as her heart was beginning to pound. "...So what? Is this supposed to be some kind of decision to make? How do I want to get myself killed? Either staying here all by myself, where someone can easily come and get me, or go with him, going God knows how deep, and letting people get both of us from in there where nobody will find us…"

With a little defeated groan, Carrie made her decision, and began to run after Malcolm. "Hey! Mal! Wait for me!"

Once Carrie had managed to catch up to Mal, the two of them continued their little trek. Carrie was wary the whole time, practically hiding behind Mal as her eyes constantly scanned the area, looking out for any potential threat. Mal, however, didn't mind the walk too much. He had come this way plenty of times in the past. This was nothing new to him.

In a few short minutes, they arrived in front of a metal door in the wall on the left side. "This is the place." Malcolm said as he stood in front of it. "...Didn't think that I would have to come back here again any time soon."

"...'Again'... meaning that you've been here before?" Carrie asked, trying to act tough with Malcolm, despite how scared she really was. "...And you certainly seem calm and knowing of where to go in these parts… like you've been in these alleyways plenty of times…"

"I'll explain more of this situation when we get the chance." Malcolm looked at Carrie. "Let me warn you ahead of time. The man we're about to talk to… he's usually calm and collected, but if provoked, he can really cause some shit…" he started to explain. "So while we're in there… don't say anything that could potentially piss him off… no insults, no getting on his case for being here… nothing like that, alright? Just… don't say anything that he can take the wrong way."

After saying this, Malcolm raised his hand up to knock on the door, but stopped himself to think about what he had just said before looking back to Carrie again. "...Actually, now that I think about it, it's probably best if you don't say anything at all. Just… let me do the talking here, alright?" Carrie would usually object to this, but given their current situation, she decided that was probably for the best, and nodded in agreement.

Seeing that Carrie understood, Mal once again raised his hand up to the door and began to pound on it, the metalling bangs of his knocking reverberating like a cannon through the seemingly hollow alleyways. Carrie got nervous that someone from deeper in was going to come over after hearing the noise, but it didn't look like anyone was coming, neither from the alleyway, or the door that Malcolm had banged on.

After a few seconds without any answer, Malcolm rolled his eyes and simply opened the door himself, walking in seemingly uninvited. The place hadn't changed all that much from the last time Malcolm was there. The lone light that was on at the moment was enough to illuminate some of the items around that he was familiar with, some moved around a little bit, while others remained nearly stationary.

Just as he had expected, he found the man who was responsible for attacking Jason sitting at the table, with a bag on the table. He had a fish sandwich in his hand, which was accompanied by a large fry container and a small cup of ketchup next to it. He ate the sandwich over its food wrapper, taking a bite of the sandwich and chewing it rather slowly. Malcolm wasn't even sure at first that he had noticed him come in.

After swallowing the bite he had taken, the man took a napkin from the bag and wiped some of the tartar sauce that had been on his lips from his previous bite, and began to speak as he reached for some of his fries. "Didn't I ever teach you that it's rude to barge and interrupt someone when they're eating?"

Malcolm scoffed at this and responded with, "Well, given what we were doing when we heard the news, you certainly need to be taught this lesson as well." He walked further in, Carrie reluctantly coming in as well and shutting the door behind them. "...Salem."

The man that Malcolm referred to as Salem gave an amused hum, dipping some of the fries he had taken in the ketchup and eating them before he began to speak again. "Only those that work under me are allowed to refer to me by name… unless you plan on rejoining our gang, I would recommend you remember your place, Mal."

After reaching down and taking a large cup from underneath the table, and taking a big drink from it, Salem finally looked up at Malcolm, and noticed Carrie standing right behind him, looking out from Malcolm's side to get a look at him. "...Hmm. Making friends, are we?" Salem asked as he paused his eating, leaning back on his chair and crossing his arms with a little smirk. "Looks to me like you're already starting to forget what I taught you, Mal… and here I thought you were going to really make it out there."

Carrie was about to make a comment about how "friends" wasn't really a good word to describe them, but before she could do so, or remember what Malcolm had told her outside, Malcolm slammed his hands on the table and leaned in closer to Salem's face. "I'm not here for catching up, nor am I here to join you creeps again!" he growled. "I'm here to get some answers."

"Oh? And what exactly is there that I need to answer for?" Salem asked. "Need I remind you about the ultimatum I gave you? I told you that if you weren't able to rematch and defeat that "chump", Jason Titan, I was going to take back what I gave to you, didn't I?"

"When you gave me that order, you told me that I had three weeks to rematch Jason! It's only been two since the last time we talked! I still had a few days left, and we were about to have our rematch today, after class!"

Salem gave a nod. "Yes, and believe me. Under normal circumstances, I would have been happy to still let you have that chance… but you were taking such a long time, and I realized that perhaps three weeks was just too long to wait."

He brought his hands together as he looked at Malcolm with a smirk, going on. "So I hired a certain someone to test Jason's abilities, and see if you really had a chance… after the results, we both agreed that, even if you did rematch him, you weren't likely to win. So I decided that there was no point in making you go through with this, and to take matters into my own hands."

Malcolm's knuckles were becoming white as he gripped the end of the table, seething in anger. "I don't need your help in this… I was perfectly capable of fighting this battle on my own, without your intrusion."

"You should have been able to fight any battles of yours on your own." Salem shook his head and looked at Malcolm more seriously. "I told you once I sent you on your way with that card of yours. You can't rely on anybody but yourself in this world. If you get the help of anyone in this world, it's only through using them… not by making any 'friends' to hold you back." He said this last part as his eyes moved over to look at Carrie.

Carrie had to really keep herself from saying anything in Malcolm's defense against Salem. That was a situation that she never really thought she would ever find herself in. Of all the people she ever thought she would want to stand up to someone for, Malcolm wasn't one of them. Though she kept herself quiet for now, knowing that Malcolm could and should handle this on his own.

"Speaking of that card that I gave you, however…" Salem started up again. "I think it's time you hand back Dystopia the Despondent. You're not ready to be using my card in your Deck anymore."

"You won't be getting anything out of me." Malcolm responded. "Dystopia the Despondent is mine."

Salem gave a little scoff. "Need I remind you about the conditions of our agreement? If you couldn't rematch and defeat Jason-"

"You acted and injured Jason before my three weeks were up! I will not hold my end of a bargain that you violated!" Malcolm interrupted before getting in a little closer. "If you want this Dystopia the Despondent back so bad, then you're going to earn it."

Hearing these words, Salem became intrigued, crossing his arms in interest. "Yeah?"

"Yeah… I'm not able to duel Jason… so you're going to be taking his place… tomorrow. 6 PM. Where we first met."

Salem gave a little chuckle. "You sure you really want to go through with that?" he asked. "Need I remind you who helped you make your Deck to how it is now? I'll already know everything you'll be planning on doing."

"Then you'll have no problem accepting this duel, will you?" Malcolm responded as he backed off. "...We duel tomorrow at 6 PM, and if I win, you leave Jason, myself, and everyone else that we know alone. You and your cronies never bother any of us again. You got that?"

Salem burst into full on laughter at this point. "Ohohoh my. Mal the Monster is actually dueling for people other than himself now? Has he really just forgotten what I taught him, or has he gone insane?" he joked, to which neither of the other two laughed. "Fine. I accept your challenge… and you already know what my prize will be for my victory."

Malcolm gave a nod and held his hand out again. "So we got a deal then?"

Salem nodded with a smirk on his face as he shook Malcolm's hand. "It's a game… now then… if you two would be so kind as to leave me to finish my meal in peace."

With no more words to say, Malcolm stood up straight, giving a bit of a scoff as he stormed out of the door, Carrie following quickly behind. They exited the building, closing the door behind them as they went, and began to head back to the entrance, where Malcolm's bike was still parked and waiting.

"...Care to explain just who the Hell that guy was?" Carrie asked on the way. "And what exactly are you doing, getting yourself involved with people in a place like this…? Malcolm, I want some answers."

"Not now, and not here." Malcolm responded with. "...I'll tell you and the others later, once we're all around… for now, let's get back to the hospital… make sure the others know we got back safely."

"They don't even know where we went…" Carrie grumbled under her breath as she continued to follow Malcolm, who was deep in thought as they headed back to the bike. He was supposed to have a rematch with Jason today, to prove that he was good enough to wield the power of Dystopia, and now he was going to have to prove it in another way: by taking on the very person who gave it to him in the first place.

He was going to have a lot of preparing to do… and a lot of explaining at that.


	10. Showdown of the Past Pt 1

Night came rather quickly there at that hospital, after the challenge between Malcolm and Salem had been set up.

After plenty of prying and convincing from not just Jason and his friends, but from some of the employees working at the hospital, they finally got Jason's mother to calm down and head home, promising her that her son was in good hands, and that she would be free to visit later when she got the time.

It was around 6:30 PM, and Frederick, who had gone home with his mother for a brief moment to get a couple of things for Jason, came back with his laptop and the charger, to make sure he could relax a bit while he was stuck there.

"There you go, man." Frederick got Jason's laptop up and turned on for him while also plugging it in to one of the free outlets near the bed. "Sorry that I couldn't grab your Deck for you while I was over there."

Jason gave a little bit of a smile. "That's alright, man. Given how my drawing and playing arm is in this sling anyway, I probably wouldn't be able to do anything with the Deck even if you did bring it." he joked with a little chuckle. While he was still hurting from what had happened to him earlier that day, having his friends around really did help him calm down.

Carrie gave a little bit of a smile. "Visiting hours don't end until 9:00 PM. We at least still have some time together here before we have to all leave you for the night."

Jason smiled and nodded. He was happy to have his friends there with him, even if it was just going to be for a little while longer. His attention went over to Malcolm, who was standing quietly in the room, his back turned to the others and his arms crossed. He was either deep in his own thought, or dreading what he knew was coming next.

Following along with where Jason was looking Carrie turned to Malcolm and crossed her arms. "...Well… it's later, and all of us are here right now… I believe you have something you would like to share with the rest of us?" she asked.

Malcolm didn't reply right away. He remained silent for a few seconds as he took a deep breath in and held it for a little bit, keeping in the air for a few seconds until he slowly exhaled in a sigh. "...I suppose this story was gonna come out sooner or later… even if I didn't want to tell anyone."

He walked to a nearby chair and sat quietly in it, looking up as he saw everyone's eyes on him, silently waiting to hear what he had to say. "...Well… you probably already know this by now…" he started to say. "...But I do know the man who was responsible for attacking Jason… and he did so because of our duel a few weeks ago."

"But why?" Frederick asked, his face a mixture of horror and confusion. "Why would you ever acquaint yourself with someone like him? Especially someone who works in the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare."

Jason looked down with a little sigh. "...When I went to get you to help us with stopping Magic Moe and Magic Joe… I found you in the Dark Alleyway… you were walking around like you were under no threat…" He looked back at Malcolm and asked, "You've been in the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare for quite some time, haven't you, Mal?"

"...A lot longer than I care to admit." Malcolm answered with a sigh as he leaned back into the chair and looked up to the ceiling, as if looking to the sky as he began to tell his story.

"...I was only four-years-old when I found out that my parents were somehow involved in the stuff that happened out there… we lived a comfortable enough life at that time. Roof over our heads, plenty of food to keep us alive… it was nothing special, but it was a perfectly fine life. Unfortunately, in order to support that life, they had turned to… a less than legal career. I've never been entirely sure on whether or not it was both of them, or only one of them, but in hindsight, it doesn't really matter… either way, they turned to dealing in order to pay the bills."

"'Dealing'... dealing what?" Carrie asked. "Drugs?"

"Drugs, weapons, stolen identities… anything they could get their hands on. If it was illegal, and saps were willing to get their hands on it, they were bound to have it."

Malcolm took a deep breath in, his face contorting a little bit in discomfort of remembering the parts that came next, but he knew that he had already started to tell his story, so there was no point in backing out of it now. "Unfortunately, this business could never come without its own dangers… one day, my father came home, all alone, and loaded me up into the car… I didn't know what was going on then… I was only seven when this happened… he didn't tell me anything… but I could tell he was scared… and I was just as scared as him."

He shook his head, having to take a moment before he went on. "...It was only during the ride that I got to see what he was so afraid of… in the form of a ransom letter, telling my father that someone had kidnapped my mother, and threatened to hurt her if he didn't pay back what he owed."

"They… kidnapped your mother?" Frederick asked in shock.

"That's… horrible…" Jason said as he looked down. "...What happened to her?"

"I don't really know… my dad took me to the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare with him… he knew that if they could kidnap my mother, then there was no guaranteeing that I would be safe at home alone… when we got there, he told me that he was going to get my mother, and that he would be back in a little bit."

Malcolm paused again, his entire body shuddering as he closed his eyes. "...That was the last time I ever saw either of my parents." he said solemnly. "...I don't know whether they were both captured, or if they were murdered… I just know that I would never see either of them again."

Nobody in the room dared to speak after hearing that. Both Jason and Frederick looked down, unable to believe that such a thing could happen. For Carrie, on the other hand, she seemed to have more of a reaction to it, quivering a bit and holding her left arm in her hand. Malcolm's words seemed to have been triggering some hidden pain of her own, but she didn't dare speak about it.

"I don't know how long I waited in that car, all by myself… but when I realized that my parents still hadn't come back, I decided to leave the car and go look for them inside the Alleyway… it was quite terrifying for such a young child to be walking alone in those parts. That's when I first met Salem… he found me when I was looking for my parents… he claimed that he was a friend of theirs, and decided to take me in… he never really did tell me what happened to my parents… only that he was doing them a favor for looking after me in their place."

"So you didn't just spend time in the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare…" Carrie started as she looked up at Malcolm, her outlook on him transforming as she heard the story. "...You were practically raised in those parts."

Malcolm nodded in confirmation. "That's right… and ever since he took me in, Salem taught me to toughen up and look after myself… he had to. The Dark Alleyway of Nightmare was such a place where not knowing how to do so could be the difference between life and death." He shook his head as he looked at his own hands. "From the very moment he took me in, he made one thing abundantly clear to me. In this world, the only person you can rely on is yourself. Anybody lower and weaker than you are only there to be used to advance your goals. Getting close to anyone is just asking to be held back and used yourself."

"That would certainly explain a lot, I guess…" Frederick muttered. "...So… how did you get out of there then?"

"While helping Salem out with his own agendas and being taught how to take care of myself, I managed to make enough to be able to handle living on my own for a little while… as long as I was busy keeping up with my tasks." Malcolm said. "Once I had enough to go out on my own, and try to make something out of myself, Salem gave me a going away present."

He reached into his Deck and took out his Dystopia the Despondent and showed it to them. "He told me that this card was both the weapon to use to get what I want, and a reminder of what he taught me. The weak are only there to be used by those strong enough to see their goals through. As long as I had that strength, and the will to do anything to get what I wanted, I would never need to get close to anyone. So I came to the university, and started to use it just as I was told. I betted on just about all of the duels I had there, and by doing so, I was able to make enough money to continue supporting myself."

"...And that's where we ended up in our first duel, isn't it?" Jason asked. "...That day when I first defeated you, and took the Winged Love Princess from you."

Malcolm nodded. "I don't know how, but Salem had been keeping tabs on me ever since I left… when I first lost to you, it didn't take long for him to catch wind of it… shortly after, feeling as if I had lost the strength I needed to support myself, he gave me an ultimatum. I had to duel you and defeat you within three weeks. If I didn't duel you in the given time, or I challenged you and lost again, then he would take back Dystopia."

"But… I don't understand. Why would he choose to attack Jason now then?" Frederick asked. "In case he somehow didn't notice, it hasn't been three weeks since that happened."

Malcolm shook his head and responded with, "I suppose he decided that that was just a bit too long to wait. Apparently he sent some kind of dueling mercenary in order to test Jason's skills yesterday. He wanted to determine whether or not I would have a likely chance of defeating Jason if we did have that rematch."

Upon hearing this, Jason shuddered in remembrance. "...He was the one that sent Ets after me?" he asked. "...He was the one who wanted to test my skills?"

"Apparently yes… and apparently you did well enough in that duel that he decided that I wouldn't have likely beaten you, even if we did have that rematch today… so he had his cronies come over to your house and attack you... he called it a 'gift' for me, and wants my Dystopia back now…" He sighed and shook his head. "...To think that this entire mess could have really been caused over one single card…"

Nobody said anything for quite some time. All four of them quietly remained in place, taking in everything that they had just learned. The only sounds that were audible were the ticks of the clock, and the occasional conversations between doctors and nurses as they passed by the room in the hallways.

"...So then where does that leave us now?" Frederick asked. "...Where do we go from here?"

"This problem has nothing to do with you guys anymore." Malcolm answered as he stood back up. "...Tomorrow, I'll be taking Salem on in the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare… if I defeat him, he'll leave all of us alone, and never bother us again… if I lose, however, he gets Dystopia the Despondent back."

"Malcolm… you're not in this situation alone." Jason said. "Let us help you out. We'll get through this together."

"I appreciate the offer. But I have to do this on my own." Malcolm said. "This is my fight. I have to do this by myself."

"I'm sorry, but don't you think you're forgetting something in this situation?" Carrie asked. "You said it yourself. This Salem creep has been keeping tabs on you since you left. And if what I heard back there today is true, then he was also the one that helped you build your Deck in the first place."

Frederick nodded as he immediately saw where Carrie was going with this. "Carrie's right. If all of that is true, then Salem will be more than capable of making his Deck to counter your strategies."

"Then I'll just have to be ready for those situations when they come… I've never had to rely on anyone to fight my battles. Not since I first entered that damned place looking for my parents… and I won't let you guys fight in my battles now. Salem is my problem. I'll handle him."

The other three looked down quietly as Malcolm finished speaking. It was clear that they weren't going to be able to talk Malcolm out of this. He had set up the challenge, and he would see it through no matter what.

"...If you're not going to let us help you… then would you at least let these two be there with you?" Jason asked. "...I'm not going to be able to tag along, given how I'm stuck here… but I can still cheer you on from back here... whether or not we can really help in this battle of yours, that doesn't change the fact that we can still be there to see you through to the end… that's what friends are for, no matter what you were taught in your youth."

Malcolm didn't say anything at first, looking down as Jason finished speaking. "Friends"... a word that Malcolm never pictured himself being described as, let alone use it to describe others… had anyone in that room even earned the right to consider themselves friends with him? The most he ever did with them was help them stop a couple of thieves, and threw insults at them… what exactly had they done that made them friends…? He couldn't put his finger on it, but at the same time, there was something about that word that rang true with him.

"...Fine… if they really want to tag along and watch… then I'm not going to stop them." Malcolm finally agreed after swallowing his pride. "...But if anything starts to happen there… if things start getting ugly, I want you to get out of there as fast as you can… the last thing I need is anyone else getting hurt because of my past demons."

Frederick nodded in agreement. "If we need to get out of there, we will… just tell us where we're going and when."

Malcolm began to head for the door. "We meet up at the university at 5 PM. That's when we head over to where this all began… that's when the real fun is going to begin."

Malcolm left the room and the hospital after saying that. He wanted to take however much time he would need to prepare for this duel, not just in terms of his cards, but also mentally. This was going to be a duel against the very man who raised him since his parents were lost. It was going to be tough on Malcolm, and he had to be prepared for anything that Salem was going to say to him, in and out of the duel.

The other three knew this as well, evident by how Carrie looked over at Jason. "...What do you think…? Does he really have a chance to win this duel?" she asked.

Jason gave a little nod. "No matter how small they may be, even the smallest of chances are still chances." he said before sighing and closing his eyes. "...I just hope that Mal is able to see that he doesn't have to be in this alone…"

After Carrie and Frederick had finished their business, Jason's mother was nice enough to give them a ride back to the university after she had returned to check on her son. Neither Frederick nor Carrie bothered to tell her about what they had just learned, be it who attacked Jason in the first place, or what they were going to do tomorrow. They knew that she wouldn't understand. If they were being honest with themselves, they didn't quite understand either. But it was what it was, and there was no going back now.

The professors didn't bother asking where Jason was in the class, nor did they bother calling him out during attendance. They must have seen what happened to him on the news yesterday. From what it looked like, the news spread like wildfire throughout the campus. Everyone was shocked that someone like Jason could be a target for such a crime, and everyone was speculating on why they would do this. Frederick didn't have the heart to tell them why. He felt that them knowing would only make things worse.

5:00 came quickly that day, and Malcolm met up with Carrie and Frederick in the parking lot. It was both a relief and a disappointment that both of them decided to go through with this. He didn't bother saying anything about it though, and soon enough, all of them were on his motorcycle, heading for the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare.

The ride was silent, save for the sounds of Malcolm's bike speeding across the road, and the occasional sound of a car on the other lane doing the same thing. None of the three dared to say a word. While all of them were nervous about the coming duel, it was also likely because they knew neither of them would be able to hear each other too well.

In a little less than forty minutes, they arrived at their destination. No matter what time of day it was, and no matter how many times they went there, the entrance into the Alleyway of Nightmare was always just as monstrous and intimidating as the last time. Even for someone like Malcolm, who had been raised there since his childhood, there was almost no telling what would await him in there whenever he went.

Frederick, who had never dreamed of being in front of the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare, was quaking in his shoes just by looking into it. "Y… you really want to go through with this, Mal?" he stammered. "...Y-you don't really have to do this. We could find another way. C-call the police, maybe. They're already looking for this guy anyway."

"Even if we had the most competent police force in the world, no officer in his or her right mind would enter this place without a whole army of backup." Malcolm reminded as he closed his eyes. "Besides, I already told you. This is a battle I have to face. If I don't do this now, then he may never leave any of us alone."

"Yeah, well… just try not to get hurt in this battle of yours, alright?" Carrie said as she crossed her arms. "...The last thing we need is someone not getting out of this in one piece."

Malcolm nodded as he kept his eyes at the entrance. "...Well… no sense in delaying it any further… let's go." He began to walk into the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare, his duel disk already on his hand and his deck box secure in his pocket. The other two hesitated for a second or two, but soon followed.

Each footstep either of them took echoed throughout the seemingly endless alley, bouncing from wall to wall as they travelled further. Nobody was around in the areas closest to the exits. All of the real activity happened the deeper one would go, further away from any outside intervention, where few dared to go.

They didn't have to go that deep, thankfully, as Salem was standing just a little bit away from the door that he lived, near a trash bin that was nearly covered in obscene graffiti. The other two thugs who were responsible for breaking into Jason's house and attacking him the day before were also standing there, keeping a bit of distance away from Salem.

Once Salem noticed his opponent and the other two approaching, he took his phone out and glanced at it. "Hm. You're five minutes early this time… I was beginning to worry that you were going to keep me waiting again." He chuckled to himself as he put his phone away. One of the other thugs reluctantly held out a twenty dollar bill to the other, who gleefully took it. Seemed like they were having a bet of sorts involving when Malcolm would get there.

Salem stood up straight and walked to the side until he was smack in the middle of the two walls on each side, which Malcolm also did. Their audience kept a bit of a distance to watch. "Doesn't this place just bring back the fondest of memories?" Salem asked with a little smirk. "You remember this place too, don't you, Malcolm?"

Malcolm looked to the side to look at the trash bin. He had used it as an indicator for nearly all his life of how far he dared to go into the Alleyway, and for a specific reason. "How could I forget this place?" he answered as he looked back at Salem. "...This is where it all began; where you first found me after the disappearance of my parents."

Salem gave a nod and a little chuckle. "In this exact place, we first met and started your path of wild success, and eventual failure. What better place to hold a duel of this magnitude?" he asked as he balled his hand up into a fist as he held it up. "The place where it all began, where I first started your rise to glory shall now be the very place where I take you down."

Malcolm didn't say anything in response. He simply stepped out to the side with his left leg a bit as he took his deck box out from his pocket and took his Deck out of it, holding it in his hand silently.

"It's quite strange… despite how I never was supposed to see you as anything more than a pawn to help with my schemes, I always couldn't help but care for you…" Salem reminisced with a little hum and a smile. "...Despite my own teachings, I allowed myself to care for someone else just one time… after all, you were just a boy when I found you…"

Salem opened his eyes and continued to speak. "Tell you what, Malcolm. Since I still have a small fondness for you, I'm willing to have a change of heart. If you apologize for your failure and agree to join my gang and I once more, I'm more than prepared to forgive you for your failure, and will let you keep Dystopia. Perhaps I'll even let your new friends join in as well, if they would so choose. What do you think?"

"I don't want your forgiveness, and I have no intentions of joining you again." Malcolm growled as he put his Deck into his duel disk, activating it. "Dystopia the Despondent stays with me no matter what. Now take your duel disk and Deck out and duel me."

"Hmph. What a shame. I give you an escape from this punishment, and you still want to dance with the devil…" Salem gave a little shrug. "But hey. If you got some masochistic agenda you need fulfilled, I'll be more than happy to bring the pain for you."

With a snap of Salem's fingers, one of the thugs walked over, handing Salem a golden watch before returning to where he was standing. Salem gave an approving nod as he put the watch on his left wrist, and began to fiddle around with it, turning the dial around a little bit, like he was putting in a code to unlock a lock.

After doing so for a few seconds, the watch suddenly opened up, and out from it came two thick golden wires that spread out on each side, like a duel disk. Once these two wires fully spread out and up, they both each released another wire that began to head for each other. Once they met in the middle, the new top wire dropped a thin yet sturdy plastic that would be used for holding the cards. Rather than a digital display for Life Points, the watch duel disk instead displayed Salem's Life Points right in the watch, where the date and day would usually be displayed in some watches.

"Not bad, wouldn't you say?" Salem asked as his other thug brought to him his Deck. He held the deck next to the watch duel disk, and to the side of it a little plastic piece began to come out at the bottom, followed by a plastic clamp at the top for holding cards in a Deck in place. He put his Deck into the new holding area, having just enough room to fit them all in. "Light enough to remain as a watch without causing any discomfort, but still fully functional as a duel disk."

"It's going to take a lot more than a couple of smoke and mirrors like that in order to win you this duel." Malcolm drew his opening five cards. "Now then, are we going to do this or what?"

"Of course, of course? Where are my manners? We are in a duel after all, aren't we?" Salem mocked as he drew his opening Hand as well.

"LET'S DUEL!"

Malcolm looked at the cards in his hand and smirked a bit. Only the beginning of the duel, and his Dystopia the Despondent was already one of the first cards he drew. The last time he had gotten such a good Hand on the first turn, Lou had managed to bring it all down in a few turns. Though this time, Mal would be sure to get his ace Monster out before anything like that could happen.

"Hm. That smirk means you started with quite a good hand, didn't you?" Salem asked as he held his free hand out a bit. "Well, tell you what. Since you've got such a good Hand, and you're the student, I'll let you go first."

"Fine by me. The sooner I crush you, the better. Watch this!" Malcolm exclaimed. "I'll be setting one Monster face-down, then I'll place another card face-down on the Field." He played his two cards face-down and nodded. "That'll be it for now. Your move."

Carrie gave a little bit of a hum as she began to think to herself. "_Normally, I would call an opening turn like that a pretty weak start. But given Malcolm's playing style, that might just be the best opening turn he could ask for… let's just hope Salem isn't able to ruin it before Malcolm can make good use of it._"

Salem drew his card for his turn and looked at it, starting to laugh a little bit before looking at Malcolm with a smirk. "Tell me something, Malcolm. In a duel between the teacher and the student, do you know what the greatest benefit of being the teacher is?" he asked.

"I'm not here to play your mind games or answer riddles. Just make your move already!" Malcolm growled impatiently.

Salem ignored Malcolm, however, and continued to talk. "The best part about being the teacher in this duel is that I know every single move you're going to make. The whole reason your Deck is how it is is because of me. I know every single card in your Deck, how many of these cards you have, and what you plan to do with them. You, on the other hand, have no idea what cards I'll use. My strategies are all but hidden from you."

"I'll be more than happy to see what your strategies are for myself if you would just go on and use them. Make your move!"

"My, my. So impatient, aren't we? Fine then. You'll get to see for yourself in good time." Salem smirked as he set a Monster on the Field and one card in his Spell/Trap Zone. "This turn, I think I'll follow your lead by setting a Monster and another card on the Field. That's it for now."

"He just made the exact same move that Malcolm did?" Frederick questioned, quite confused. "What, is he running the same Deck or something?"

Hearing this, Salem gave a little chuckle. "Oh, I'm sure he would like that, wouldn't he?" he asked. "I don't play to be even or equal to my opponents. I play to be superior. This Deck was made specifically with crushing Mal over there in mind. Every single move he makes will only push him further to his defeat."

"Oh, yeah? We'll see if you're still talking like that after my move. I draw!" Malcolm yelled as he drew his next card and smirked. "And now, you're in for a real beating, Salem. It's time to wrap this duel up."

"Oh, you really think so? Then by all means, try to bring your master on his knees before you."

"We'll see if you're still cracking jokes after this! First things first, I Flip Summon my face-down Monster, Bunilla!" Malcolm flipped the Monster he had face-down face-up, revealing Bunilla on the Field. "And he's not going to be alone. Because I'm also activating my other face-down card, The League of Uniform Nomenclature! I can only activate this card if I have a face-up Level 2 or lower Normal Monster. And since I do, I can summon as many copies of that Monster as I want directly from my Deck."

He took his Deck out for a moment, taking two cards out of it before shuffling the Deck and putting it back into its holder. "So say goodbye to my Trap Card, and say hello to two more Bunilla!" He placed the two Monsters down, filling his Field now with three Monsters. "But why stop there, when I can add even more bodies to my Field? I Summon my Oppressed People!"

Carrie and Frederick both watched with hopeful eyes as they saw Malcolm's field now almost completely full. "He's already got four Monsters on his side of the Field." Carrie pointed out.

Frederick nodded. "Does that mean what I think it means?"

Malcolm smirked and looked back at Frederick, nodding before looking back at Salem. "And just as soon as it started, this duel is over! I send all four of my Monsters to the Graveyard!"

All four Monsters on Malcolm's side of the Field faded away, and a strong wind began to blow from the center of the Field. Salem, however, remained unfazed. "If you want this card so bad, then you're going to have to face its wrath first! Arise, Dystopia the Despondent!"

From Malcolm's side, his mighty Fiend slowly rose up, the gigantic Monster almost not being able to fit in the narrow alleyway. Upon seeing the Monster, both of Salem's thugs took a couple of steps back.

"Maybe this won't be so bad after all…" Carrie said with a little smile. "Dystopia is wickedly powerful… Salem is going to have to really give it all he's got if he's going to try to destroy that thing."

Despite this, Salem seemed completely calm. In fact, by how he was speaking, it almost sounded like he was happy to see Dystopia out so soon. "Impressive. You managed to get your ace Monster out in just the opening turns." he said with a little smile. "But if you think Dystopia is going to win you this duel, you're in for a rude awakening."

"Sounds to me like you haven't had to feel Dystopia's power at full force in too long a time. Maybe we'll do you a favor and remind you!" Malcolm shouted. "Go, Dystopia the Despondent! Attack Salem's face-down card now!" Dystopia looked to the face-down, and released a horrifying blast of blue and black. The face-down card flipped face-up, just to show Malcolm what it was he was destroying. The Monster was revealed to be Thousand-Eyes Idol, a Monster that had no Defense to speak of, and therefore had no chance against Dystopia's attack.

"Thousand-Eyes Idol? That's the Monster that you tried to protect yourself with?" Malcolm asked with a scoff. "Even the weakest Monsters in my Deck could have taken that out. Is this some kind of joke?"

Salem began to laugh again. "On the contrary, I'm afraid the only joke in this duel is the fact that you actually think you can win. You've just doomed yourself! Every single move you just made has done you nothing but play you further into my hands!" he exclaimed with a grin.

Malcolm gave a little growl. "You're just trying to get inside my head. You have nothing to stop me. I've already brought out the strongest card in my Deck, and you have nothing left to protect you from him."

"Oh, Malcolm. You really thought that my end game was to keep your Dystopia from appearing?" Salem asked, that grin having never left his face. "Don't you get it? This is all about me taking Dystopia back from you. I didn't want to keep you from summoning it to the Field. I wanted you to play it as quickly as possible, so I could personally take it from you."

"You're bluffing… my Dystopia the Despondent is virtually unstoppable. You have nothing that can stop his rampage!"

"Don't I? Don't I really?" Salem asked with a smirk. "We'll just have to see about that. Now… I believe it's my move?"

Malcolm gave a little irritated growl and nodded. "...I don't like how calm this guy is…" Frederick said as he looked at Carrie. "...You don't think he really has a way of stopping Dystopia, do you?"

"I don't know… I can only hope he's just bluffing." Carrie responded with a little gulp. She was just as nervous as Frederick was now. Dystopia was indeed powerful, but Salem seemed too calm… he certainly seemed as if he didn't mind Dystopia being on the Field so early.

"It's my move now." Salem started as he drew his card. "I draw, but it doesn't matter what card I just drew. I already have everything I need to teach you a lesson, Malcolm. It all starts with this Trap Card of mine: Call of the Haunted." He took the face-down card still on his Field and flipped it face-up. "Now with this Trap activated, I can Special Summon any Monster from my own Graveyard. Of course, since I only have one Monster currently in my Graveyard, there's only one choice I have. I'll give you three guesses to figure it out."

A tombstone rose up from the ground, and out of the dirt in front of the tombstone came Thousand-Eyes Idol. It landed on the Field and did a little bit of a dance before it stood in front of the tombstone, bouncing around a little bit as it stayed in place.

"Are you trying to get your Monster back on the Field to protect you?" Malcolm asked with a little scoff. "Sorry to say, but that little freak won't protect you. In case you somehow forgot, when a Monster is Special Summoned by the effect of Call of the Haunted, that Monster has to be Summoned in Attack Position. Without any Attack Points to speak of, your Thousand-Eyes Idol won't be able to protect your Life Points one bit."

"You really don't pay attention at all, do you, Mal?" Salem countered confidently without missing a beat, catching Malcolm a bit off guard. "I don't need my Thousand-Eyes Idol to protect anything. I just need him to be out on the Field for this one turn. Because he's about to be gotten rid of for something even stronger."

"You're planning on Tributing your Thousand-Eyes Idol? For what? There's nothing that you have in your Deck that you can Tribute Thousand-Eyes Idol for in order to defeat my Dystopia."

"Perhaps there may not be something in my Deck that can defeat your Dystopia…" Salem started with a smirk. "...But that doesn't mean I don't have anything at all… you see, you could never be more wrong about what you said. My Thousand-Eyes Idol can indeed be Tributed for something so strong, even your Dystopia the Despondent is a mere cockroach compared to it… all it needs is the help of this handy Spell Card."

Without any further ado, Salem played the card of which he was referring to. "I now activate my Spell Card! Metamorphosis!"

"Gah! What the-?!" Frederick exclaimed in shock.

"Metamorphosis?!" Carrie yelled in disbelief.

Malcolm gave a little growl and took a step back. "Just what do you think you're trying to play at?" he asked. "You just tried to activate a forbidden Spell Card. You can't use it!"

To this, Salem began to laugh again. "Oh, Malcolm. How you and your silly classmates choose to play by the rules. In case you somehow haven't noticed, this isn't an official tournament, and neither of us made the condition of following any banlist. So in this duel, my Metamorphosis is fair play."

"Alright… so he's playing a banned card… but what exactly does that do for him in this situation?" Frederick asked. "In order to use Metamorphosis, you have to Tribute a Monster with a Level equal to the Fusion Monster you want to bring out, but the only Monster on his Field is Thousand-Eyes Idol. He can only Special Summon a Level 1 Fusion Monster, but I don't think that there are any of those that would do him any good at this stage."

For Carrie, however, it didn't take too long for her to put the picture together. Her eyes widened and she gave a terrified gasp as it all began to click, remembering what Salem had said about wanting to take Malcolm's Dystopia personally. "No! You're wrong!" she exclaimed in terror. "There is a Monster that he can use! I think Malcolm is in serious trouble!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Frederick asked. "What Monster are you talking about?"

"Back when the game was at its earliest conception… there was a powerful Fusion Monster created. It's rumored that this card was the most powerful Monster in the Deck of the creator of Duel Monsters himself." Carrie explained. "When it was finally released to the public, the Monster was so powerful in combination with Metamorphosis, it defined an entire format of the game, and eventually was banned from official tournaments for years."

"And now, you'll get to see this Monster in all of its glory!" Salem said. "With the sacrifice of my Thousand-Eyes Idol, I get to Special Summon it to my side of the Field, straight from my Extra Deck!" The hologram of Thousand-Eyes Idol began to slowly distort, warping into a completely different shape. "And in the blink of an eye, I create an all new Monster. Or should I say… the blink of a thousand eyes? Come forth, Thousand-Eyes Restrict!"

The metamorphosis had finished within a couple of seconds, and now, where Thousand-Eyes Idol once stood was a new, more powerful Monster. With a little gurgled growl, it opened up its seemingly endless array of eyes and looked upon Malcolm and his Dystopia the Despondent. Thousand-Eyes Restrict had appeared on the battlefield.

"It is him! It's Thousand-Eyes Restrict!" Carrie cried out. Frederick simply stayed silent in shock and awe at the new Monster that had just appeared.

Malcolm growled and clenched his fist. Thousand-Eyes Restrict… he didn't think that Salem was actually going to play a card like that. This complicated things for him quite a bit.

"Left speechless, are we?" Salem asked with a little mocking smirk. "Don't feel too bad. Many people aren't really sure of what to say when they come across such a powerful Monster. Especially when this one Monster is going to set the stage for your ultimate defeat."

"I'm not out of this duel yet. Not by a long shot." Malcolm retorted. "Don't be forgetting about Thousand-Eyes Restrict's special ability. As long as it remains on the Field, no other Monsters can declare an attack or change their battle positions. You're stuck with attacking me with only your Thousand-Eyes Restrict as long as it remains."

"And you think that really matters?" Salem asked with a scoff. "I don't care if I can only attack with Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Especially when he's about to gain a massive boost to his power. And it's all thanks to you." He pointed to Malcolm's Dystopia the Despondent. "Now, Thousand-Eyes Restrict! Bring back what belongs to me, and take the power of Dystopia the Despondent!"

The hole that was in the middle of Thousand-Eyes Restrict's body, which resembled a large, open mouth, widened in response to the order given, and a powerful force began to suck Dystopia into it. The Fiend Monster tried to resist, but was unable to stand the power of Thousand-Eyes Restrict, and with a roar, he was dragged into the Spellcaster's gaping hole.

"My Dystopia!" Malcolm exclaimed in horror as his own ace monster disappeared just like that. Everyone watched in shock as Malcolm's ace card was taken away in one swift turn, and the ATK and the DEF of Salem's Monster instantly jumped from 0 to 5000 each.

"Heheheh… shocking to find out when you've underestimated your opponent, isn't it?" Salem asked. "As I told you already. I know everything about your Deck. I know that you would try to get your precious Dystopia out as soon as possible, and I used that against you. Now, the power of the Monster I gave you is mine once again, and the only person that will be 'feeling his power at full force'... is you."

"I don't get it? Where did Dystopia go?" Frederick asked quietly to Carrie. "That Monster took it in, and now it's no longer on the Field?"

"When a Monster is absorbed by the power of Thousand-Eyes Restrict, it's no longer treated as a Monster." Carrie explained. "It's treated as an Equip card equipped to Thousand-Eyes Restrict. It can only take in one Monster at a time, but as long as it has something inside of it, it'll gain ATK and DEF equal to those of the absorbed Monsters… on top of that, it doesn't let any other Monster on the Field attack or switch positions, meaning that even if Malcolm could get rid of its point boost, dealing with the Monster itself is still going to be a completely story."

"That doesn't sound fair at all! How is Malcolm supposed to take on a Monster like that?!"

"That's probably the reason why Salem put it in his Deck in the first place… I don't think Malcolm is supposed to be able to take it out."

Malcolm gave a little nervous gulp. As much as he hated to admit it, Carrie and Frederick both had a point. His Deck had very few options for taking care of something like Thousand-Eyes Restrict, especially when his Dystopia had been the target for its effect. Not only that, but with nothing to protect his Life Points, and 5000 Attack Points staring him down, he knew that what was coming next was going to really hurt.

"You should have taken my offer… you would have saved yourself a lot of pain. It's time you learn your lesson!" Salem shouted as he pointed to Malcolm. "Go, Thousand-Eyes Restrict! Remind our friend of who's in charge, and attack him directly!"

Thousand-Eyes Restrict began to be covered in a familiar dark blue aura of menace, and from the hole in its body, a familiar blast of black and blue energy was fired, coming straight for Malcolm. With nothing on his Field to protect him, and with no cards in his Hand to stop the oncoming attack, he had no choice but to take the attack head on. He screamed out in pain as the attack hit its mark, throwing him back a good foot or so, his Life Points dropping to 3000 from just one attack.

"Malcolm!" Carrie shouted. "Are you ok?!"

"If we had started with half of the Life Points we did, he wouldn't be." Salem mocked with a little smirk. "He gets to take an attack like that two times instead of just one."

"You just caught me off guard. That's all." Malcolm was slow to get on his feet, his legs shaking from pain as he was trying to get himself standing up again. If that was what it felt like to take a direct attack from his Dystopia the Despondent, then he would have quite a bit of apologizing to do to several people that dueled him in the past. "You won't be doing that again."

"Not that I would need to do that again. Like I said, I was already more than prepared for your Dystopia the Despondent. My entire Deck was built around taking what rightfully belongs to me, and using it to crush you. And thanks to the power of my Thousand-Eyes Restrict, I've succeeded."

"You haven't won yet! This duel has only just begun!" Malcolm countered as he drew his next card. "First, I'll set one Monster face-down, then I'll activate the Continuous Spell Card, Supply Squad! As long as this card is face-up on the Field, once per turn, if a Monster I control is destroyed, either by battle or by card effect, I get to draw one card from my Deck immediately after it's destroyed."

"Well, Malcolm has a way of getting some resources at least." Carrie thought out loud. "Thanks to Thousand-Eyes Restrict not allowing other Monsters to attack, Salem will only be allowed to attack with it. As long as Malcolm is able to get something to defend himself on each of his turns, he'll be able to keep drawing cards."

"Yeah, but what will he be able to do with all of those cards?" Frederick asked with a gulp. "Does he really have something in his Deck that can handle a Monster with 5000 Attack and Defense Points, now that his Dystopia the Despondent is on Salem's side?"

"So now you have the options between losing from decking out or by losing your Life Points. Is that it?" Salem mocked with a scoff. "Fine then. It makes no difference to me. I draw." He drew his card and gave a little smirk. "And what do you know? Everything just continues to go my way this duel. I'm activating the Spell Card, Different Dimension Capsule!"

A capsule that appeared in the shape of a sarcophagus slowly rose from the ground and opened up as Salem took a card from his Deck. "Here's how the card works. When I activate my Different Dimension Capsule, I place one card in my Deck in it, and that card is removed from play face-down. My Different Dimension Capsule, however, sticks on the Field for until my second Standby Phase after activation. On my second Standby Phase, my Different Dimension Capsule will destroy itself, and once that happens, I get to add the card that I removed from play into my Hand."

"That's not good at all." Frederick said nervously. "Salem gets to add whatever card he wants into his Hand thanks to that card. And since it's removed from play face-down, Malcolm doesn't get to see what it is, and won't be able to prepare for it when the card gets added to his Hand."

"Maybe, but Different Dimension Capsule also has a glaring weakness." Carrie pointed out. "In order to get the card that he removed from play with its effect, it has to stay on the Field long enough to destroy itself with its own ability. If Malcolm can keep the Capsule from being destroyed, or destroying it before two turns of Salem's have passed, then he won't get to add the card to his Hand."

"That may be… but it's not like that's going to be happening, now is it, Malcolm?" Salem asked with a little smirk. "Your Deck is heavily reliant on your Dystopia the Despondent, after all. You don't have very many options in the way of Spell and Trap card removal."

Malcolm gave a growl of response. He hated how Salem was able to so confidently spell out what his own Deck did and didn't have, while Malcolm really wasn't sure of what all was in Salem's Deck in return. The Different Dimension Capsule slowly sank back down into the ground, which repaired itself over where it had previously risen, to await its return on Salem's second Standby Phase.

"Of course, that will be the question of whether or not you can even get any of your Spell and Trap removal by the time I crush you, isn't it? Thousand-Eyes Restrict! Blast his face-down Monster to smithereens!" Thousand-Eyes Restrict surrounded itself with a menacing blue glow again before releasing another blast of black and blue at Malcolm's face-down Monster. The Monster flipped face-up in response to the attack, revealing itself to be D. D. Trainer. Though its DEF was strong, it was nowhere close to being able to handle Thousand-Eyes Restrict's 5000 ATK.

"Sorry, D. D. Trainer… but you won't be leaving me without a gift." Malcolm assured. "Don't be forgetting the effect of my Supply Squad! Since my D. D. Trainer was just destroyed by battle, I'm allowed to draw one extra card. And now you've used up your one attack for the turn."

"Of course, of course, not that it matters anyway. But I suppose it helps that you're no longer stuck with only one card in your Hand, doesn't it?" Salem said with a little shrug. "I have nothing else I want to do for my move. Go ahead and make yours."

Malcolm nodded and drew his next card, frowning a bit as he did. It certainly wasn't going to help him in taking out Thousand-Eyes Restrict… but if he was able to just keep defending himself, every time a Monster of his was taken out, he could at least draw a card. He wasn't even sure at this point how he was going to be able to beat Thousand-Eyes Restrict, both with its ability to keep other Monsters from attacking, and its current massive ATK of 5000.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, Salem really had him in a tough situation. The only way that he was going to get anywhere at this moment was by playing defensively for now. "I'll just set one Monster face-down and end my turn."

"At this point, that's all you can do, isn't it?" Salem asked as he drew his next card. "I, on the other hand, am not just limited to defense. Since your face-down Monster is preventing me from harming your Life Points anyway, I believe I'll play this Spell Card. One Day of Peace." Salem placed the card into his Spell/Trap Zone. "This is one of the cards you use, isn't it? I doubt I have to remind you of what it does?"

"Of course not. Now both of us get to draw one card, and neither of us take any damage until the end of my next turn." Malcolm said with a sigh. "Just as you said, though, it's not like not being able to do any damage to me is of any concern of yours now." Both of them drew their cards from their Decks.

"Consider it as a little gift for you that also gives to me. I'm not so cruel that I can't give to you every once in a while." Salem smirked before he began to speak again. "But whenever I give, I also take away. Go, Thousand-Eyes Restrict! Attack his face-down Monster!" Just like the last two times the Fusion Monster had attacked, a black and blue blast was fired from the hole inside Thousand-Eyes Restrict's body at Malcolm's face-down Monster. This time, it flipped face-up to reveal an Oppressed People, who were effortlessly obliterated by the attack of the Fusion Monster.

"Since you just destroyed my Oppressed People by battle, I now get to draw an additional card, thanks to the ability of my Supply Squad." Malcolm reminded as he drew another card. He looked at the card he had just obtained and smiled a little bit, giving a little nod. "Looks like that gift of yours was one that just keeps on giving."

"Hmph. A lot more than you know. I'll go ahead and end my turn now. It's not like you can do anything to stop what comes next."

What comes next… Malcolm really wasn't sure what he meant by that, but whatever he was talking about, he knew that it had something to do with the card that he had put in his Different Dimension Capsule. With how he was completely unaware of what all Salem had in his Deck, there was no telling what card would be gifted to him on the next turn. But whatever it was, Malcolm knew that it was going to be something that he planned to win the duel with. He was going to have to act if he wanted to keep that from happening.

He drew the card for the start of the turn and gave a little frown. It was a strange draw for him to get. On the one hand, it seemed like a card that would be able to do him a lot of good if he was able to pull it off. But on the other hand, he was going to have to try to bank on a very specific circumstance happening in order to make it work, thanks to Thousand-Eyes Restrict's abilities, and he knew that Salem wasn't going to take too obvious of bait. The only thing he could do is set it up while he continued to play defensively, and just see what happened.

"I'll start my turn off by setting yet another Monster face-down to protect my Life Points." Malcolm said as he put a Monster face-down. "Then, along with that, I'll place two more cards face-down on the Field." He placed two cards in his Spell/Trap Zone and gave a nod. "That's all for my turn."

"Then it looks like I'll be starting my turn." Salem drew his card and gave a little smirk. "It's been two turns since I activated my Different Dimension Capsule. You know what that means, don't you?"

The Different Dimension Capsule slowly dug its way back from the ground which it had fallen, and opened itself up, a card slowly floating up and out of it before the Capsule shattered into pieces and disappeared. "Now with my Different DImension Capsule destroyed by its own effect, the card that I put into it is now added to my Hand."

He took the card that he had removed from play a few turns ago and took it out. "I told you that you didn't have a single strategy or card that I wouldn't be prepared for, Mal… not just your Dystopia, but also trying to keep yourself protected with your weaker Monsters if he failed. No matter what cards you may have to try and stop me, none of them will do you any good anymore. It's time for you to lose. Thanks to the card that I had banished with the effect of my Different Dimension Capsule."

"What are you talking about?" Malcolm growled. "What card did you add to your Hand?"

Salem gave a little smirk. "The card that I added to my Hand…" He flipped the card over so that Malcolm could get a look at it. "...Was my Book of Taiyou Spell Card."

"Oh no! Not Book of Taiyou!" Carrie screamed.

"Oh yes, Book of Taiyou. Now, with the power of this Spell Card, I can choose any one face-down Monster, and force it into face-up Attack Position. And looking at the current state of the Field, there's only one real option for me to choose, isn't there, Mal?"

Malcolm gave a growl and gritted his teeth as a large book with a deep orange cover, covered in hieroglyphics, appeared in Salem's hands. He opened the book and began to read off a chant. "Fire to warmth, day to light. Rise like the sun to stand and fight!" In response to his words, Malcolm's face-down Monster was flipped face-up and revealed to be Charcoal Impachi. It was initially in a guarding position on one knee, but in response to the Spell Card, it slowly began to rise to its feet.

"Not just a card to steal and use Dystopia against me… but also to keep me from defending myself…" Malcolm grumbled. He sounded much more annoyed than he did scared. "...You really did make this Deck with an answer to everything I would try to do, didn't you?"

"Knowing your enemies is more than just half the battle. It allows you to completely crush them without any mercy, and dash any of their strategies into the ground. You could have avoided all of this simply by taking my offer, Malcolm. But I'm afraid now I'm going to have to take Dystopia from you by force."

Malcolm snarled as he looked at the state of things. His Charcoal Impachi's meager 100 ATK could never dream of standing up to a Monster with 5000, let alone protect his 3000 remaining Life Points from one.

"Oh. And just in case you get any funny ideas with those other cards…" Salem started as he took another card from his Hand and played it. "I'll be fitting my Thousand-Eyes Restrict with the Forbidden Dress this turn."

In a matter of seconds, the dress in question materialized on the Thousand-Eyes Restrict, covering up a majority of the eyes that surrounded its body. Due to its unique body shape, however, the dress appeared and was fitted to match its body shape, including wing parts to cover the "wings" protruding from its shoulders, and a gaping hole in the middle, so it didn't block its "mouth". Malcolm would have laughed at the sight if it was in a more appropriate time to do so.

"Now that my Thousand-Eyes Restrict has been fitted with this fashionable garment, until the end of this turn, he can't be targeted by, or destroyed by any other card effects. In exchange for that., however, I have to forfeit 600 of his own Attack Points until the end of the turn, but with 4400 still remaining, and your Charcoal Impachi only having 100, it doesn't really matter. This next attack will still be more than enough to wipe you out."

"Poor Charcoal Impachi! It's left completely defenseless by such a powerful Monster that can't be stopped by any card effects now!" Carrie cried out.

"But if Malcolm can't stop this attack now, it's over!" Frederick yelled in panic. "Mal!"

"Go, Thousand-Eyes Restrict! Attack his pathetic Monster and wipe out the rest of his Life Points!" Salem shouted as he pointed at Charcoal Impachi. Once again, Thousand-Eyes Restrict was covered in a black and blue aura, the hole in its body slightly expanding as it was preparing the finishing blow. Malcolm gave a little growl as he took a step back, looking at Thousand-Eyes Restrict, his eyes quickly darting to the two face-down cards he had placed before he looked back to the battlefield.

"And just like that… Dystopia the Despondent is mine once again."


	11. Showdown of the Past Pt 2

"Go, Thousand-Eyes Restrict! Attack his pathetic Monster and wipe out the rest of his Life Points!" Salem shouted as he pointed at Charcoal Impachi. Once again, Thousand-Eyes Restrict was covered in a black and blue aura, the hole in its body slightly expanding as it was preparing the finishing blow. Malcolm gave a little growl as he took a step back, looking at Thousand-Eyes Restrict, his eyes quickly darting to the two face-down cards he had placed before he looked back to the battlefield.

"And just like that… Dystopia the Despondent is mine once again."

"Not yet, it isn't." Malcolm growled. "You still have a long way to go if you want to get my Dystopia back from me, and I'm far from being beat. This duel isn't over."

"I'm afraid it is. Take another look. Your Charcoal Impachi can't protect your Life Points from this battle. Not while it's stuck in Attack Mode, thanks to my Spell Card."

"My Charcoal Impachi may not be able to protect my Life Points from that attack for the moment…" Malcolm began. "But in your overconfidence, you seem to have overlooked that I still have two face-down cards to activate. And now it's going to cost you big time."

One of the thugs gave a little scoff. "A noble thought, but it's already too late. Have you forgotten that our boss has already activated Forbidden Dress?" he asked.

"That thug is right." Carrie said with a sigh. "Thanks to that Spell card, whatever card that Malcolm would try to target or destroy Thousand-Eyes Restrict won't work until the end of the turn. And with an ATK of 4400, there won't be a next turn if this attack goes through."

"Then I suppose it's a good idea I'm not aiming for Thousand-Eyes Restrict, isn't it?" Malcolm questioned. "On the contrary, I have a card on the Field that I'm much more interested in taking out, and I have just the Trap Card that will allow me to do it! Before your attack goes off, I activate my Trap Card! Go, Dust Tornado!"

Salem gave a surprised growl and took a step back as he watched the Trap Card flip face-up, a powerful wind beginning to whip around the Field. "When this Trap Card is activated, I get to target one Spell or Trap card you control and destroy it." Malcolm explained with a smirk. "And last I recall, after a Monster is absorbed by your Thousand-Eyes Restrict, it's treated as an Equip Card, meaning that my Dystopia the Despondent is vulnerable to being destroyed by my Trap Card. Isn't that right?"

"You sneaky bastard. You would really destroy your own Dystopia the Despondent in order to keep yourself in this duel?" Salem asked.

"It's not something that I want to do, but it's better that my Dystopia be destroyed by my own hand than rotting in the belly of that freak of yours. Dust Tornado, destroy Dystopia the Despondent!"

The heavy winds formed into a dusty tornado that formed right behind Thousand-Eyes Restrict. As the tornado whipped around, a translucent apparition of Dystopia the Despondent appeared behind Thousand-Eyes Restrict before the tornado turned it into dust, and blew it away. As soon as both the projection of the Fiend Monster and Dust Tornado vanished, the blast that was forming in the hole in Thousand-Eyes Restrict's body, and the dark blue aura that had encased it, had disappeared as well. Without the power of Dystopia the Despondent to leech off of, Thousand-Eyes Restrict's once incredible 5000 ATK and DEF now dropped to their original values of 0.

"Heh. Looks like your precious Fusion Monster that was supposed to bring about my end isn't so tough without somebody to leech off of, is he?" Malcolm asked. "Perhaps you need a bit of a reminder of your own philosophy yourself."

Salem gave a snarl. "_Without Dystopia the Despondent equipped to it, my Thousand-Eyes Restrict has absolutely no power!_" he thought to himself. "_And I've already declared an attack. Without a change on the Field, I can't call off my attack!_"

"Charcoal Impachi! Counterattack!" Malcolm commanded. "Destroy his Thousand-Eyes Restrict!" With its Attack Points now higher than its opponent's Charcoal Impachi slowly lumbered forward toward the Fusion Monster and swung its heavy arms forward, bashing the Spellcaster with both of them. The Spellcaster was batted into the air from the attack, landing back on the ground and breaking into pieces after it hit the ground. Salem watched as the digits on his Life Point counter changed, showing that he now had 7900 Life Points.

"Alright! Malcolm did it!" Frederick cheered. "Now that Thousand-Eyes Restrict is off the Field, he doesn't have to worry about any more of his Monsters being absorbed, and can attack freely!"

Carrie gave a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. He actually managed to pull it off… I was really worried for a moment there."

"Hmmmm… not bad, Malcolm. You seem to have been able to use your cards to save you for a turn… but I just wonder. How long will you be able to make that last?" Salem asked, taking very little time to regain his composure. "After all, there's still so much duel to be had, and you're still quite a ways behind, even with my Thousand-Eyes Restrict now destroyed."

"You may still have a lot of Life Points left, but that doesn't matter, now that I've deduced the weakness of your Deck." Malcolm countered. "My Deck may be heavily reliant on getting my own Dystopia the Despondent out, but it looks like yours banks on that just as much as mine does. You said it yourself. Your Deck's main strategy is taking Dystopia the Despondent from me. Now that he's no longer on the Field, your Deck doesn't have very many ways of defeating me."

Salem simply chuckled in response. "You might be right… but even if you were, what about possible backup plans that I have for in case that doesn't happen?" he asked. "I have nothing more I can do for my turn. It's your move."

"Gladly. It's my move!" Malcolm shouted as he drew his card. He gave a nod of approval at what he saw as he held his Hand out to the Field. "First thing I'll be doing is activating my Trap Card, Graceful Revival!" The card that he had placed face-down with his Dust Tornado on his last turn flipped face-up. "This card works much like the Call of the Haunted you activated just a few turns ago. Only instead of Special Summoning any Monster from my Graveyard, mine has to be a Level 2 or lower Monster. But as you probably already guessed, I have no shortage of those in here."

He took a Monster out of his Graveyard and brought it back to his side of the Field. "With my Graceful Revival, I'll bring back my Bunilla from my Graveyard!" The familiar rabbit appeared back on the Field alongside Charcoal Impachi. "And before you ask, I'm not anywhere close to being done. Now, I'm going to activate my Spell Card, Triangle Power!"

A series of red triangles of energy descended from the sky, surrounding the feet of Charcoal Impachi and Bunilla. "Thanks to this powerful Spell Card, all Level 1 Normal Monsters I control gain an additional 2000 Attack and Defense Points until the End Phase of this turn!"

"A risky move if he only has two Monsters to work with…" Frederick thought out loud. "When Triangle Power is activated, any Level 1 Normal Monster he controls is destroyed during the End Phase, even if they didn't get a power boost from that card."

"Then Malcolm better make the most out of those two Monsters while he still has them." Carrie commented as the ATKs of Charcoal Impachi and Bunilla rose to 2100 and 2150 respectively.

"Alright, Bunilla and Charcoal Impachi! Attack Salem directly!" Infused with the power of Triangle Power, both Charcoal Impachi and Bunilla charged forward at the same time, hitting Salem quite hard, despite their usual weakness. Salem gave a groan of pain as he was knocked a few steps backwards from the attack, his Life Points now falling to a much more manageable 3650.

"So much for your massive Life Point Advantage, wouldn't you say?" Malcolm asked. "Now we're looking much more even in this duel."

"Perhaps… but at what cost is that coming at? You haven't forgotten about the downside to your Triangle Power, have you?" Salem questioned. "Once you End your turn, both of your Monsters will be destroyed, and you'll be left with nothing on the Field."

"Under normal circumstances, you would be right… but I have no intention of leaving them out on the Field long enough to be destroyed by Triangle Power's adverse effect. So on that note, since both of my Monsters are Level 1, I'll go ahead and overlay them for something else."

"Overlay?" Carrie questioned as she watched Malcolm take both of his Monsters and lay one of them on top of the other. "Malcolm has an XYZ Monster?!"

"It was one of the first cards I ever won off someone on campus." Malcolm explained as his Charcoal Impachi transformed into a sphere of scarlet, and Bunilla into a sphere of brown and floated into the air. "I've never really had a good opportunity to try this card out, mostly because I was too preoccupied with trying to get Dystopia out to use the materials… but what the heck? Since they're both going to be destroyed if they're not used, there's no time like the present."

Once both of the spheres had disappeared into the sky, Malcolm took out the Monster he was about to summon, and laid it down on top of the two overlaid Monsters. "Alright. Now it's time to give this Monster the proper chance it's deserved. I summon Number 63: Shamoji Soldier to my side of the Field in Defense Mode!"

The tiny XYZ Monster descended onto the battlefield from the sky, landing on its two feet with a bit of a crash. It sprang up into the air and took a knee, holding its two sticks in its hands in a defensive manner.

Salem stared at the new Monster in confusion for a few seconds before giving an amused chuckle. "Well, Mal… I'll certainly give you credit for using the XYZ Summoning to your advantage… but perhaps you could have chosen a more intimidating Monster?" he joked. "With 2000 Defense Points and not a single point of offense, it can barely do much of anything against me."

"Maybe not against you, but it sure does a lot for me." Malcolm responded. "With my two Level 1 Monsters being used to bring out my Shamoji Soldier, they're no longer on the Field, and won't be destroyed by my Triangle Power's effect. Not only that, but they've become Materials attached to my XYZ Monster, which I can now detach to activate its ability." He took Bunilla and put it back into his Graveyard. "Using my little friend's ability, at the start of your Standby Phase, both of us will get to draw an additional card from our Decks."

"A gift for both of us from you, now?" Salem asked with a chuckle. "Seems like both of us just can't help but share some generosity among ourselves. As you wish. I draw." He drew his next card and then drew another one. "And since we move onto my Standby Phase, I believe we both get an extra draw?" Malcolm nodded and drew another card for himself.

Salem gave a little hum as he looked at the cards in his Hand. "Ahhh. Seven cards to play with, so little time. Where to begin…?" He gave a little nod of approval as he took a card out of his Hand and played it in his Spell/Trap Zone. "I think this will be a good place to start. I activate the Spell Card, Spell Reproduction. In order to activate this Spell Card, I need to send two others in my Hand to the Graveyard. But for those two cards, I get to choose any Spell Card in my Graveyard, and return it to my Hand."

He took two cards that were in his Hand and slipped them into the Graveyard. "So say goodbye to Meteor of Destruction and Mind Control…" he started as he took a card back from his Graveyard and showed it to Malcolm. "And say hello again to my Different Dimension Capsule."

"You would get rid of a card for taking control of a Monster of mine?" Malcolm asked. "And here I thought you wanted to defeat me with the power of my own Monster."

"Mind Control is in here for more of discard fodder than anything. After all, even if I were to activate it and take control of your Dystopia, I'd have no way of using its power, now would I?" Salem gave a little hum as he played the card he just added to his Hand, the familiar capsule reappearing from the ground. "Of course, regardless of what it's there for, it's serving a much better purpose now, allowing me to play my Capsule a second time. Wouldn't you agree, Malcolm?"

He took another card out of his Deck and placed it into the capsule, letting it sink back into the earth once again. "You remember the drill. At the start of my second turn after activating this card, the card that I placed inside will be added to my Hand. And once that happens, I'll be all set to win this duel once again. Only this time, I'll be sure that you can't stop me."

"Hmph. We'll just see about that." Malcolm responded. "Now then. Are you done with your move?"

"Not quite. Before I end my turn, I'll be Summoning my Possessed Dark Soul to my side of the Field." Salem put the Monster onto the Field, the Fiend Monster appearing in Attack Mode. "Now, if I choose to Tribute this Monster, I'll be able to take control of all face-up Level 3 or lower Monsters you control. And with your Deck being filled with Level 1 Monsters, you better think carefully before you decide to summon them onto the Field."

"Hmph. Only a minor threat. That thing can't pose a threat to my Shamoji Soldier, nor any of the other Monsters I have in my Deck. So now, I think it's time I make my move." Malcolm said as he drew his card. "And since you don't seem to be able to do anything at the moment either, I'll simply end my turn after detaching the second Material on my Soldier, to allow us both to draw again during your Standby Phase."

"Trying to conserve your resources, are we?" Salem asked as he drew his next card and gave a smirk. "Very well then. We move onto my Standby Phase, which means that both of us get to draw, thanks to your Soldier's ability." Both of them drew an additional card, Salem nodding in approval of the draw he got. "And I think I'll be activating the card that I just drew thanks to your Monster's ability now. I activate the Spell Card, The Forceful Sentry!"

Malcolm gave a little growl. "Another banned card… I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, should I?"

"Rules were meant to be broken, Malcolm. Do whatever you have to do to get the job done, remember? That's the code of the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare, and the only way you'll ever be able to make it in these parts." Salem gestured Malcolm to come over. "You no doubt know how this card works. You have to reveal to me your Hand, and I get to choose one Monster in your Hand to shuffle back into your Deck."

Malcolm silently nodded as he walked over to Salem, stopping when he was only a couple of feet away from him. "Now… let's have a looksee, shall we?" Salem asked. Malcolm simply scoffed a bit as he held up the four cards in his Hand for Salem to see.

Salem gave a little interested hum at what he saw. Rush Recklessly, Tri-Wight, One Day of Peace, and Human-Wave Tactics. Not a single Monster in his Hand to speak of… he could shuffle Tri-Wight back into Malcolm's Hand, to keep him from summoning Dystopia… but then that wasn't much threat to him anyway if he couldn't summon any Monsters to begin with. There was also One Day of Peace… but he wouldn't imagine that that would help him out too much in the given situation. Rush Recklessly was no threat to him at all, which left virtually one choice for Salem.

"Go ahead and shuffle your Human-Wave Tactics back into your Deck." he instructed, to which Malcolm nodded, taking the Trap Card and shuffling it back into his Deck. Once he was done, he put his Deck back into his duel disk and walked back to his side. "Not a very good Hand at the moment, I suppose… but then again, it's made much worse with the fact that you can't spam your Monsters out now."

Malcolm gave a little amused smirk. "I suppose in hindsight, The Forceful Sentry is a perfect card for you, isn't it?" he asked, to which Salem's smile faded. "After all, it makes sense. You force people to give you what you want, and you take away from them with no care at all. Suits you pretty well, doesn't it?"

The silence that followed was near bone-chilling as the two of them stood there, glaring at each other strongly. Both of Salem's thugs looked at each other, feeling their boss's annoyance, and were anxious to hear what he had to say in response. Frederick and Carrie both took an apprehensive step back. They had a feeling that Malcolm should have been a little bit more careful with his words.

After nearly half a minute of neither side saying or doing anything, keeping their eyes on each other and waiting to see if the other would back off, Salem finally spoke again. The calmness that was usually in his voice was now replaced by irritation. "You might want to consider being a little more respectful to me, Mal… don't be forgetting who it was that took you in when you were all alone; who watched over you and raised you like you were his own son."

Malcolm scoffed, almost laughing at that last part. "'Like I was your son'? Forcing me into this criminal gang of yours. Making me hurt people that didn't deserve it, just so you could feed your own greed. You call that raising me like I was your son?"

"You should be grateful, you brat. I gave you shelter when anyone else in these parts would have used you as a bargaining chip, or a meat-shield at best. I gave you the food off my table, and taught you how to survive on your own, and this is the gratitude you show me? Standing here, defying me and acting like I never did anything for you."

"Everything you've ever done for me was just to get me in your little gang!" Malcolm shouted. "You only took me in because you saw an opportunity at getting a child of someone who knew these parts!"

Salem gave an annoyed growl, speaking louder and firmer this time. "I took you in because I made a promise to your parents that I would do so. I didn't have to keep it, you know. I could have just left you to wander outside of that car that day, only to find yourself in the crosshairs of some gunfight. Is that what you wanted?"

Malcolm's eyes went wide as he heard what Salem had said. "...What did you say?" he asked.

Salem raised his eyebrow for a moment before he looked down, realizing what it is he just said. "...Seems like I might have said a little too much…" he grumbled under his breath.

"...You… you made a promise to my parents…?" Malcolm questioned. "...That must mean… you talked to them some time after my father left me…" Malcolm's right hand balled into a fist, being clenched so tight that his entire hand began to shake. "You… did you have something to do with their disappearance?!"

Salem gave a sigh and shook his head. "...Malcolm, this was something that I didn't want to have to tell you… I cared for you a little too much to tell you the truth… but I suppose since I let the cat slip out of the bag…"

"My Mom! My Dad!" Malcolm demanded. "What did you do to them?!"

Salem looked back up to Malcolm with a sigh. "...Mal… I did nothing to your parents… I had nothing to do with their disappearance… because they never disappeared at all."

"'Never disappeared'...? Just what's that supposed to mean?! If they never disappeared, then how do you explain me never seeing them since that day?!"

"Oh, Mal. Can't you open your eyes and see? Your parents weren't killed or kidnapped, like you wanted to believe…" Salem started. "...They abandoned you… no… they sold you out."

Malcolm's entire body went cold upon hearing this, his hand starting to tremble and his vision somewhat blurry, just at the mere mention of what Salem had said. "...No… I don't believe you…" he said quietly before looking up and shouting again. "You're lying!"

Salem shook his head and spoke again. "You want to know what really happened that day? Why your Dad came all the way over in his car with you in it? Why they never came back for you?" he asked. "It's because of your father's business. He was a fine enough salesman, but a lousy businessman. He could almost never make good on his deals, and very rarely did he have the finances or stock in order to pay what he owed. I would know. I was one of his regular partners in business. He owed me so much at one point, I could open a legit business of my own with the money he owed."

Malcolm shook his head in denial. The only thing he could respond with, however, as a lump began to come up in his throat and his heart began to pound was, "No…"

This didn't stop Salem, however, who continued to tell his story. "I eventually got sick of banking on your old man's empty promises and dodging of payments. He had to pay me what he owed. So I took his wife, your mother, and held her hostage. I was the one who wrote that letter, telling your father that she would get it, if he didn't give me what he owed. He came over, and did his usual shit. Excuses and tall tales for years on end. But this time, I wasn't going to have it. I had a hostage, and he had no way of getting out of this one. Of course, he didn't have nearly enough to pay me. So in a desperate act to save his wife, he bartered the only thing of value he actually had."

"He… he doesn't mean…" Frederick asked as he and Carrie looked on and listened, horrified by the story that they were hearing.

"They never really cared about you at the end of the day, Mal. At least not at that moment. He made himself a choice when he came to me that day: his son or his wife. And he deemed your life at that moment to be nothing."

Salem gave a little nostalgic smirk as he went on. "At first, I didn't want to take that offer. Even for someone like me, that was just despicable. Trading your own child away to pay for your own mistakes… but I eventually decided to take a chance in that investment. I gave him back his wife, and you were left for me to find… and let me tell you something, Mal. You were ten times the partner your father ever was. You more than earned me back what he owed… it's just a shame that it had to be under such cruel conditions that our paths crossed."

"You're just trying to get in my head and distract me from the duel. It's not going to work!" Malcolm growled, though he didn't sound too sure of that himself. In fact, based on how he kept his eyes to the ground now, it seemed like he was trying to convince himself more than truly not believing what Salem said.

"What exactly do you think you would find if you were to go back to that old house of yours?" Salem asked. "You think that it's just going to be empty, with nobody having lived in it for years? Or perhaps a new family moving in, building a white picket fence as LIttle Timmy is drawing on the sidewalk with chalk?"

His goons seemed to chuckle a little bit at what Salem said, but stopped as the man gave them a fierce glare. He wasn't making any jokes this time. "Accept it, Mal. At the end of the day, you were nothing but a chip to your parents, to be thrown on the table and left to be collected by their opponents if they lost that bet. I even gave them an opportunity to win you back, telling them that if they could still earn what they owed and pay me back in the future, they could get you back. But they never came back to me. Never came by to check on you."

Salem began to speak a little louder now, to get the message loud and clear to Malcolm. "And believe me, I've seen them around in the Alleyways. They've been around quite a number of times with their business after that day. They never even brought up how you were doing whenever I was nearby. I wouldn't even be surprised if they don't remember you exist. You were sold out by them, Malcolm! They sold you as property!"

"No! I don't believe that!" Malcolm shouted as he clutched his head in his hands. "My parents… my parents would never do anything like that to me! It's not true!"

Salem was silent for a few seconds, not daring to say a word as he let Malcolm take in what he had heard. Malcolm was trying his best to deny what Salem had just said, writing it off as him just trying to distract him, but for some reason, he couldn't completely deny what was just said.

"...Do whatever you choose with that knowledge. Believe it, don't believe it… makes no difference to me. Doesn't change the fact that it happened." Salem took a card from his Hand and set it face-down. "Go on ahead and make your move, if you can."

Malcolm didn't make a response as he drew his next card. His mind was rushing with a hundred different thoughts at once. He wasn't really sure of what to make of what he had heard, and what feelings were swimming inside of him at that moment. Surely Salem was only lying, trying to get into Malcolm's head so he would make a mistake in the duel. No matter how many times he told himself that, however, the same question kept running into his head. What if Salem was telling the truth? What if Malcolm's parents really did abandon him that day?

Frederick immediately noticed Malcolm's troubled look, and how he wasn't making his move yet. "Malcolm! Don't listen to anything he tells you!" he called to him. "He's only trying to get your focus off the duel!"

"How would you know?" Malcolm asked sharply, without even looking to Frederick, surprising both him and Carrie. Sounded like Malcolm was starting to think more and more that Salem was telling him the truth.

Malcolm, meanwhile, decided to ask one more question before he moved on to make his move. "Before I completely crush you, tell me this… if what you say is true, and I'm not saying it is… but if it were, why did you not tell me this? Why keep it a secret from me?"

Salem paused for a moment himself before he spoke. "I thought about it plenty of times. A few times, I thought it would be the perfect motivator in showing you how alone we really are in this world… but every time I thought about it, I decided against it. Maybe I just didn't want you to know the hurtful truth until I thought you were ready… or maybe I worried that if you did know about it, you would be less willing to listen to me… I just didn't think you would ever be ready to learn the truth… but I suppose you know now, so it doesn't really matter, does it?"

Malcolm gave a little nod, still keeping quiet for a moment. "...I see… alright then… let's continue, shall we?" he asked as he put a Monster on the Field. "First things first, I'll be Normal Summoning my second Charcoal Impachi to the Field."

The Level 1 Monster appeared on the Field in Attack Position as Malcolm took a Spell Card from his Hand and put it on the duel disk. "Now I'm activating the Spell Card, Tri-Wight. With this Spell Card, I can Special Summon 3 Level 2 or lower Normal Monsters from my Graveyard. Not that it matters what I choose to Summon, so I'll go ahead and Special Summon from my Graveyard my second Charcoal Impachi and two of my Bunillas."

"Why would he Special Summon so many Monsters?" Frederick asked. "His Dystopia is already in the Graveyard, so he can't use any of them, and now his Field is full of Monsters that Salem can take over with his Possessed Dark Soul's effect."

"That's not entirely true." Carrie corrected as she watched on. "Not many people know this, as most duelists haven't really gotten to the point of getting Mal's Dystopia into the Graveyard… but if Dystopia the Despondent is in the Graveyard, it can Special Summon itself by sending 4 Level 1 Monsters on the Field to the Graveyard, as if it were still in his Hand."

"Wait… if that's the case, then that means…"

"That means that my Dystopia is about to come back for a second round. And this time, he's not gonna be stopped!" Malcolm yelled. "I sent my four Level 1 Monsters to the Graveyard now!" He took all four of the Monsters on his side of the Field and slid all of them into the Graveyard, the strong wind from the first summoning blowing through the Alleyway once again. "Dystopia the Despondent rises to fight once more!"

From the ground, Dystopia the Despondent slowly began to rise up once again, as if it had never been sent to the Graveyard in the first place. "And guess what, Salem? With you only having 3650 Life Points remaining, your Possessed Dark Soul's 1200 ATK won't be able to save you from this next move of mine. Dystopia is staying right where he belongs! Dystopia, attack! Destroy his Possessed Dark Soul and the rest of his Life Points!"

Dystopia became encased in that familiar dark blue glow. Its piercing, glowing red eyes cut through the darkness as it glared at its attack target, and the one who controlled them, ready to strike and end this duel.

"Hold on just a moment, Mal. It's not too late for me to save myself." Salem said as he took his Trap Card and flipped it face-up. "I'm activating my Trap Card, Enchanted Javelin!"

From the just activated card, the Enchanted Javelin flew out towards Dystopia the Despondent, piercing his chest, yet not seeming to do any harm to the Monster. "What are you doing to my Dystopia?!" Malcolm demanded.

"Why, nothing, really. And that's the whole beauty of it. You see, I can only activate my Enchanted Javelin when you attempt to attack me. By targeting the attacking Monster, I gain Life points equal to that Monster's ATK before the battle goes through." Salem's Life Points rose to 8650 as he continued to explain. "And here's the best part. Since Enchanted Javelin targets your Monster, but doesn't directly affect it in any way, even if you were to use Dystopia's special ability, it wouldn't stop me from gaining those Life Points."

"So you had that to save yourself without risking me triggering my Dystopia's ability… fine. But that doesn't change the fact that my attack goes through, and 3800 of those Life Points you just gained are about to be lost again. Dystopia, continue your attack!"

The Enchanted Javelin disappeared from Dystopia the Despondent's chest, and his attack continued, a powerful blast coming to the Possessed Dark Soul and completely consuming it. The soul vanished from the power of the attack, but Salem was able to easily soak up the damage, leaving him with a respectable 4850 Life Points left.

"He almost got him that time, but Salem was prepared for it." Frederick gave a little nervous gulp. "This guy really was prepared for whatever Malcolm would try to do."

"That might be, but at the very least, Malcolm is in a very good spot now." Carrie crossed her arms as she went on talking, "Not only does he have his Dystopia the Despondent back on his side of the Field, but now, even if Salem does anything to take control of it again, he still has his XYZ Monster to defend his Life Points from a hit."

"That's not going to last him too much longer… I can guarantee that. Because now it's my move!" Salem drew his next card. He gave a little nod and looked to the ground as a familiar capsule slowly began to rise up once again. "Surely you didn't forget about my Different Dimension Capsule, have you?" he asked. "Now, the card that I put into it two turns ago gets added to my Hand."

Malcolm gave a little growl. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he did indeed forget about that card being activated a couple of turns ago. "And let me guess. Now you're going to be using whatever card you just added to your Hand, am I right?" he assumed.

"Not quite. As much as I would love to crush you with this card right now, all the pieces aren't quite in play, yet." Salem took another card from his Hand and put it on a Monster Zone in face-down Defense Position. "Don't worry, though. We'll get to that soon enough. I end my turn with this face-down Monster.

Malcolm groaned a little bit. He didn't like it when Salem put a Monster face-down like that. With how he's been playing this whole duel, there was no telling just what that Monster could be, or what effects it may have, if any at all. "My draw!" Malcolm yelled as he drew his next card.

"_Monster Reincarnation… I'm not in any desperate need for a card like this, but it may come in handy later on…_" He thought to himself as he looked on the battlefield. With his Dystopia the Despondent on his side of the Field, he would only be able to attack with Dystopia anyway, so there wasn't much point in bringing back another Monster into his Hand. Even if Salem did manage to take care of, or take control of Dystopia again, Malcolm still had his Shamoji Soldier on the Field to protect him from a hit. There was only one real thing that Malcolm could do now.

"Dystopia the Despondent, attack his face-down Monster now!" he called out. Dystopia's eyes turned to the face-down Monster on Salem's field, the blue and black aura surrounding it once more as it prepared its attack. Before it released its blast, the Monster was flipped face-up, revealing it to be the Magician of Faith before Dystopia fired its blast, completely consuming Magician of Faith and destroying her with ease.

"Hmhmhm. Thank you, Malcolm. By destroying my Magician of Faith, you've just activated her special ability." Salem said. "When my Magician of Faith is flipped face-up, I'm allowed to add any Spell Card in my Graveyard back to my Hand. And I have just the card." A white glow shined over his Graveyard before Salem took the card he was looking for out, showing it to Malcolm. "And I'm adding just the Spell Card I need: Book of Taiyou."

"What? Book of Taiyou is the one he took?" Carrie asked. "Malcolm doesn't currently have any Monsters in face-down Defense Position, though, and even if he did, it wouldn't benefit Salem at all to flip them face-up… why would he take that card?"

"If he's taking his Book of Taiyou now, that can only mean one thing." Malcolm said as he looked at Carrie before looking back at Salem. "...It means that he's planning on using a Flip Monster, and he needs to flip it face-up immediately."

"Check out the big brains on Mal. You're a smart one, aren't you?" Salem joked with a smirk. "But then again, you were taught and raised by one of the best. Of course you would have some knowledge about this game, wouldn't you?"

Malcolm growled. "I'm done."

"In more ways than one. Because now it's my move!" Salem drew his next card and nodded in approval before taking a card in his Hand. "Now, it's time that I get to utilize the card that I added to my Hand with my Different Dimension Capsule. I set it face-down on the Field!" He put a Monster on the Field in face-down Defense Position. Malcolm had a feeling he was going to do that. That must have been the Flip Monster he was going to use Book of Taiyou on.

"Now with everything set up, I activate my Spell Card, Book of Taiyou! Would you care to hear what this card does again, or should I just cut to the chase?" The familiar orange book appeared in Salem's hands as he once again read from it, "Fire to warmth, day to light. Rise like the sun to stand and fight! Oh, how ironic that a Dark Monster should be flipped face-up from such words, don't you agree, Mal?"

The face-down Monster on Salem's side of the Field was flipped face-up for Malcolm to see. "Say hello to Dharc the Dark Charmer!"

"Not a Charmer Monster!" Malcolm exclaimed, his body going cold again as he saw the Monster that was just summoned.

"You better believe it. And I assume you don't need to be reminded of what they do?" he asked. "Now that Dharc has been flipped face-up, he allows me to take control of any DARK Monster on your side of the Field. And since you only have one to choose from…"

Dharc held his staff towards Dystopia the Despondent, a soft purple glow emanating from it that caught the Fiend's eyes. As it continued to stare into the light, its glowing red eyes soon died down, and became a hazy purple color as the Fiend slowly began to walk to Salem's side of the Field.

"Not again! My Dystopia the Despondent!"

Salem simply smirked in response. "You mean my Dystopia the Despondent, don't you?" he asked. "I've now taken back my Monster not once, but twice. And now I'll be crushing you with it. As soon as I punch through your little toy soldier, of course. Dystopia the Despondent, attack his Shamoji Soldier now!" Rather than Dystopia acting on its own, Dharc held its staff out towards the XYZ Monster, the staff glowing purple again to give the Fiend its command. Obediently, Dystopia turned its eyes to Shamoji Soldier, the dark blue aura encompassing it before it fired off its blast, completely destroying Shamoji Soldier.

"Seems like you've forgotten about my Supply Squad!" Malcolm yelled. "Now that you destroyed a Monster of mine again, I get to draw one card from my Deck!"

Salem simply smirked as he put one card in his Hand face-down in his Spell/Trap Zone, letting Malcolm draw his card. "As if that will save you. I end my turn."

Malcolm started his turn by drawing another card, looking at all of his options in his Hand. He was starting to get a bit too low on cards left in his Deck for his own comfort, considering that his Supply Squad was going to make him keep drawing cards every time a Monster of his was destroyed. But even then, he only had one Monster in his Hand. Though he had a possible way of dealing with this problem, it wasn't guaranteed, with that face-down card of Salem's.

"I'm going to Summon my Oppressed People!" Malcolm exclaimed as he played his Monster Card. "And now, I'm going to activate this Spell Card from my Hand! Rush Forward Recklessly! Until the End Phase of this turn, this Spell Card gives my Oppressed People an additional 700 Attack Point boost, raising their Attack Points to 1100."

Salem gave a little bit of an amused smirk. "Did you forget that I got to see what cards you had in your Hand when I activated The Forceful Sentry?" he asked. "I knew you were going to try something like that eventually, Mal. That's why I had this Spell Card of my own lying in wait." He took his face-down card and activated it. "It's called Enemy Controller. By targeting a Monster you control, such as your Oppressed People, I can use this card to change their battle position. I use it to flip your Oppressed People into Defense Mode."

Malcolm gave an irritated groan as he watched his Oppressed People switch into Defense Mode from the effect of Salem's card. "You just have an answer to everything, don't you?"

"I warned you. My Deck was specifically made to crush any of the strategies you would try to use." Salem said. "Since I know you have nothing left to do, I'll go ahead and make my move now." Malcolm simply growled a bit. Salem was indeed right. There was nothing more that he would be able to do this turn.

Salem drew his card and gave an indifferent shrug. "Nothing that will win me this duel this turn. Oh well. I guess I can at least make some good sport out of smacking what few Monsters you still have around." He pointed to the Oppressed People. "Dystopia the Despondent, attack him again!" Once more, Dharc held its staff up to give the command, and on command, Dystopia the Despondent attacked once more, obliterating the Oppressed People.

"Since my Oppressed People were destroyed, I get to draw one more card." Malcolm drew his card and looked at it, a groan escaping his throat as he began to think to himself. "_You gotta be kidding me! The League of Uniform Nomenclature?! That card's not going to help me now!_"

"Doesn't seem like your draw did you very much good, did it?" Salem asked with a smirk. "It's your turn now. I have nothing else I want to do."

Malcolm gulped and put his hand on his next card. He desperately prayed for something that he could use to save himself before drawing his next card. Human-Wave Tactics. Just like the League of Uniform Nomenclature, completely useless to him when he didn't have any Monsters in his Hand, especially when very few Monsters were left to summon in his Deck as it was. Almost his entire Hand was dead in this situation. There was only one card he could play to buy himself an extra turn.

"I activate the Spell Card, One Day of Peace!" Malcolm exclaimed as he played the card, though his voice didn't really sound as strong or confident as it usually did. "With this Spell Card, we both get to draw one card, and neither of us take any damage until the end of your next turn." Salem and Malcolm both drew their cards. Malcolm almost wanted to break down at what he saw. Another dead draw, but at least he would have an extra turn. "I… I end my turn."

Salem gave a little chuckle. "Now you're starting to understand just how much you need me. Only those that are strong on their own can wield such a creature as my Dystopia the Despondent. And you, Mal… you are not worthy of its power. You could have avoided this simply by joining me… but you had to have things your way. And now… you have nothing."

He drew his card and looked at it before smirking. "As for me… you're lucky that you had One Day of Peace to buy you that extra turn. Because the Spell Card that you allowed me to draw from it…" He played the Spell Card and allowed Malcolm to see it as it was activated. "Is none other than my Left Arm Offering."

Malcolm gave a nervous gulp. "I don't like where this is going…"

"You shouldn't. I can only activate my Left Arm Offering when I have at least two cards in my Hand. Luckily for me, I have four. Now, I can remove my entire Hand from play, in order to add any one Spell Card from my Deck to my Hand." Salem brought all of the cards he held together and put them to the side, where one of his goons quickly picked them up to get them carefully out of the way. "Banishing my entire Hand is quite a hefty cost, but it's worth it for getting such a powerful ability. Especially when the card that I'm adding to my Hand…"

He smirked and took a card out of his Deck and showed it to Malcolm before finishing. "Is the one card I need to end you on my next turn. The Equip Spell, Big Bang Shot."

"That's not good at all." Carrie said with a little nervous shudder. "If he equips that card to Dystopia the Despondent, not only will he gain 400 Attack Points, but he'll inflict piercing Battle Damage on Malcolm whenever he attacks a Defense Position Monster."

"Which means that even if you do play a Monster on your next turn, it won't change a thing. Your Deck has many high Defense Monsters, but none of them have any more than 2100 Defense Points, which means none of them will have enough to protect you from losing the rest of your 3000 Life Points." Salem smirked as he switched his Dharc to Defense Mode. "It's the perfect victory that I've been planning since you challenged me to this duel. Crushing you with the very card I gave you, and giving you absolutely no opportunities to escape."

Malcolm didn't say a word in response. No boasts or denials came from him this time. He simply just looked to the ground, a look of utter defeat and helplessness in his eyes, a look that Malcolm hadn't had in a long time; not since his parents had disappeared… or, as he supposed was the case now… abandoned him.

"You put up a good fight for what it's worth, Mal… I didn't expect you to be able to get past even my Thousand-Eyes Restrict… but you're too weak on your own to be able to wield the power of Dystopia the Despondent…it's over. Nothing you have in your Deck will be able to stop me on my next turn. Dystopia will wipe out what's left of your Life Points, and I will win this duel."

Malcolm gave a growl as he began to reach for his Deck to draw his next card. Before his fingers touched the card, however, his hand stopped in place. He looked back to the Field and saw the situation; his own Dystopia the Despondent turned against him one again, but this time, there didn't seem to be any hope of getting him back this time. He had no cards on his Field, and no cards in his Hand that would be able to save him. Even if he did draw a Monster now, there was nothing in his Deck that could protect him from Dystopia's attack once it was equipped with Big Bang Shot.

"_...What would be the point of even drawing my next card?_" he thought to himself, looking down to the ground. "_I have nothing left that can save me from my own Monster… maybe Salem was right… maybe I was never strong enough to wield such a powerful Monster… maybe all the strength that I thought I had only came from him… now that he's taken away what he's given to me… what else do I have?_"

Carrie and Frederick watched quietly in horror, neither of them saying a word at Malcolm's defeated look. They had never seen Malcolm lack such confidence in all the times they've seen him. It was haunting, to see someone like Malcolm be reduced to that point. Though at the same time, they really couldn't blame him in this situation. They knew just as well as he did what little chances he had now.

"_...Salem really did give me everything that I have… the powerful Monster that I've used to crush everyone with… the lessons that I needed to make it on my own… a place to call home when my parents… sold me to him… he gave me all of that, and knew just how to take it all away… how could I even think I had a chance?_" He began to slowly reach his whole hand over his Deck, ready to give the sign of surrendering. "_I guess it's time to face reality… I was never strong enough on my own…_"

Salem gave a little nod. At last, Malcolm was finally starting to see just how much Salem had really given him, and how he was really nothing without all of it. It was a shame it had to have gotten this far before he fully realized that, but it was just how things had to be. Now, it was time for Malcolm to surrender, and to finally return Salem's Dystopia the Despondent…

"Come on, Mal! Lighten up a little bit."

The voice came in his mind just before he put his hand down on his Deck. When he opened his eyes, he found that everything had seemingly disappeared. Salem, the Field, their audience… it was only him. The entire place was grayed out now, void of any color aside from varying shades of gray, black and white.

"Th… that voice…" Malcolm started as he turned around to look behind him. "Jason…?"

As his eyes looked behind him, he saw Jason standing right there, his body unaffected by the grayed out condition of the rest of his surroundings. Though his body seemed translucent, Malcolm just barely being able to see some of the stuff behind him. It was clearly just a part of Malcolm's imagination, though he did find some comfort in seeing Jason there, despite how he knew he really wasn't.

"You can't just give up now. Not after you came so far!" Jason said. "You're Mal the Monster, remember? One of the best duelists on the campus grounds. One who, before I dueled him, seemed unbeatable with his Dystopia the Despondent. One who would never surrender, especially not to some punk in the alleyways!"

Malcolm sighed and shook his head. "As much as I appreciate the words of encouragement… it's a bit late for them now. Salem gave me everything that made me that duelist… and now, he's taken them all away from me… my best card… my strategies… any hope that I have of defeating him…"

Jason, however, wouldn't have any of it, and shook his head. "Not everything. You didn't get everything from him, and he didn't take everything away from you. You still have 3000 Life Points left, and even if you only had 1 left, that's still enough to make a difference. But you won't be able to turn this around if you hang your head and give up. You have to keep trying!"

"Trying for what? To last as long as I can before he wipes the floor with me?" Malcolm asked with a shake of his head. "I don't want to give Dystopia back to him, but what else can I do? Look at the situation I'm in! He's taken my strongest card, and even if I do draw a Monster on my next turn, he has Big Bang Shot in his Hand, and can equip it to Dystopia on his next turn to inflict piercing battle damage to me. I don't have anything left I can do!"

There was silence between the two of them for what felt like an eternity to Malcolm. They just stood there, in silence, Jason standing and staring at Malcolm, who just kept his eyes to the ground in defeat.

"...Well… I suppose if that's the case… then I guess you're right. You really can't win." Jason turned around and crossed his arms with a sigh, looking away from Malcolm as he spoke. "Quite a shame, too… if you just had that one card, then you could easily turn this duel around… but just like you said when I gave it to you… you wouldn't put that thing in your Deck."

Malcolm looked up at Jason in surprise as he heard those words. The card that Jason had given him… he completely forgot about that. As those words rang in his head, that night of receiving that card playing in his head, he slowly began to look at his Deck, now staring at it silently.

After a few seconds of hearing silence, Jason turned around to look at Malcolm. Once he saw that Malcolm was looking at his Deck, he gave a big, proud smile. "You actually put that card in after all, didn't you?"

"It's in there…" Malcolm admitted with a sigh. "...But what good will it do me now? I only have the one copy in my Deck… the chances of drawing it here and now aren't in my favor…"

"Didn't you think that the odds were horribly against me when we first had our duel?" Jason asked. "Yet I was able to turn it around… because I never gave up. I continued to fight until my last Life Point in our duel… and now it's your time to do so as well. I told you this earlier. Salem may have given and taken back quite a number of things from you, but there's one thing he didn't give you, and one thing he can never take away."

Malcolm looked up at Jason. "...What do I have that he hasn't given me?" he asked.

To this, Jason smiled and put his hand on Malcolm's shoulder in reassurance. "...The bonds that you've built over these past few days… the friendships that you're too proud to admit to… and the card that's going to get your Dystopia back and win this duel."

Malcolm looked back down at his Deck. Even if he was just a part of his subconscious mind, Jason was right. There was one card that Malcolm had in his Deck that Salem wasn't aware of… something that he never saw…

"Now… allow me to tell you the exact same words I told Frederick when he was about to give up in a duel. Stop whinging like a little bitch... draw your next card…"

"And make! It! Happen!"

When Malcolm opened his eyes again, he was back in the duel, everything having returned to normal, and Jason being nowhere in sight. However, something in him had now changed. He tightened his hand into a fist, moving it away from his Deck. This surprised Salem as he looked into Malcolm's eyes. All of a sudden, there was a newfound determination in them. Any thoughts or signs of surrender were now gone from his mind.

"It's my turn!" Malcolm said as he put his fingers on his next card to draw it. He could almost feel Jason's hand right on top of his, ready to draw that card with him. It all came down to that last draw. It was time to see whether or not Jason was right. "I draw!"

When he drew his card, his heart initially sank. One for One. If he had any Monsters in his Hand, then he would have been able to bring out the card that he needed to turn this duel around. But the only cards he had in his Hand were a bunch of Spells and a couple of Traps. He took his gamble, and it didn't pay off, as now he didn't have the resources to bring out that card.

Unless…

As Malcolm looked through his Hand, he remembered that there was still one Spell Card in his Hand that he could play. As his eyes fell on it once again, suddenly, it all became clear to him. He still had a chance! And with Salem only having his two Monsters on the Field and Big Bang Shot in his Hand, this time, he knew there would be no stopping it!

"I activate… my Spell Card! Monster Reincarnation!" Malcolm shouted as he played the Spell Card he had drawn a couple of turns earlier. "Now, by discarding one card from my Hand, I can retrieve any Monster I want from my Graveyard back into my Hand. I discard the Human-Wave Tactics Trap Card, in order to add my Charcoal Impachi back to my Hand!"

"You really still insist on fighting me, even if your situation is all but hopeless?" Salem questioned. "Fine then. Go on ahead and try what you will. I know every card in your Deck, and I know you have nothing that can stop me now."

Malcolm shook his head and responded with, "You don't know every card in my Deck… and now, with my Charcoal Impachi back into my Hand, I can show you that right here, right now! I activate the Spell Card, One for One!"

Salem gave a little confused grunt as he watched and listened on. "Thanks to this Spell Card, I can Special Summon any Level 1 Monster from my Deck, as long as I get rid of a Monster on my Field or in my Hand to do so. And I have the perfect Monster in my Deck, well worth discarding my Charcoal Impachi in order to Summon."

He discarded the Monster he had just added with Monster Reincarnation back into the Graveyard. "This duel is over… and the end all starts with this Monster!" Malcolm gave a loud yell as he took a card out of his Deck and placed onto his Monster Zone. "I Special Summon Copycat from my Deck! Show yourself!"

Onto the Field, the Monster that Malcolm had just announced appeared. In the shape of a man whose face was hidden behind a hand mirror that he held up in front of there, completely masking whatever identity he had.

"Where did you get that card?!" Salem exclaimed in shock. "That wasn't one of the cards I gave you!"

"No, you didn't." Malcolm confirmed as Copycat stood on his Field. "This card was given to me by a friend, one who taught me that I don't have to fight all of my battles completely alone. A lesson that you never did give me."

"Copycat… of course! That was why Jason traded for that card!" Frederick exclaimed. Carrie looked at him questioningly, so he began to explain. "This last Friday, Jason and I were at the Duel Monsters Club, and Jason traded for a Copycat with a new friend of ours. He wasn't going to keep it for himself. He was giving it to Malcolm!"

"You're kidding me! Jason was the one who gave Malcolm that card?"

"And it's just the card that I need to win this duel. When my Copycat is Summoned, it copies the Attack and Defense Points of any Monster on your side of the Field. And I'll be copying the strength of Dystopia the Despondent, while you still have it in your control!" On the Copycat's hand mirror, the face of Dystopia the Despondent appeared, as Copycat's ATK and DEF immediately changed from 0 to 5000 in a heartbeat.

Salem gave a growl and took a step back. Now, all of a sudden, it was he who was having his entire plan fall apart. "This… this isn't possible!"

"Nothing is impossible, no matter how grave the situation looks. Now it's high time to take my Monster back!" Malcolm responded as he pointed at Dharc the Dark Charmer. "Now, Copycat! Destroy Dharc the Dark Charmer now!" The hand mirror began to glow slightly, and a familiar blast of black and blue was fired from the glass of it at the Charmer Monster. The Charmer shouted in pain as the blast hit its mark, completely obliterating it. Since it was moved to Defense Mode, however, Salem took no damage to his Life Points.

"Alright, he took care of the Charmer… but what about Dystopia the Despondent?" Frederick asked. "Salem still has him on his side of the Field, and now he and Copycat have equal ATK. If he attacks Copycat next turn, all he has to do is banish his Thousand-Eyes Idol or Thousand-Eyes Restrict from his Graveyard, and he'll still have Dystopia after the battle."

"No… he won't… Malcolm just won this battle!" Carrie exclaimed. "When a Monster is taken control of by the effect of a Charmer like Dharc the Dark Charmer, once the Charmer Monster is removed from the Field…"

"The Monster that was taken control of by its effect is freed from its spell!" Salem finished. As he said that, the purple hazy look in Dystopia's eyes slowly began to fade away. In just a few seconds, his eyes were back to the original harsh red glow that they were quite infamous for. After the eyes were back to normal, a low, earth rumbling growl was heard as the Fiend slowly began to turn his head towards Salem, slowly walking backwards until he was back on Malcolm's side of the Field.

"And now, my Dystopia is back on the Field. And in case you're not aware, since I just took back control of my Dystopia, and he's still in Attack Mode, I have one more attack to call out, and you don't have enough Life Points to be able to take it."

"But my strategies… all of my planning, to counter all of our strategies…" Salem started to say in disbelief. "...Could it really be that this friendship of yours has caught me off guard, and has overpowered my calculations?"

Malcolm gave a little growl. "Going after me, trying to take what's mine is one thing, Salem… but you don't get to threaten or attack any of these sorry chumps… they may be some of the most idiotic, annoying chumps I've ever met… but they're my idiotic, annoying chumps, and only I get to remind them as much!"

To this, Carrie smirked and crossed her arms. "Well, well. You get a load of that, Frederick?" she asked.

Frederick nodded with a smile. "He does think of us as friends… guess Jason was right after all."

"This duel is over, Salem!" Malcolm announced. "Go, Dystopia the Despondent! Attack Salem directly and end this duel!" Dystopia responded with a deep growl as his body was encased in that dark blue aura once more, only this time, it was a much harsher glow than usual, as if Dystopia's rage had been awakened after being taken control of earlier.

At first, Salem growled as he took a look at his situation, realizing that there was nothing he could do to stop this attack. All of his options had been exhausted now. As the attack was still being charged, however, Salem quickly began to regain his composure. With a little sigh, he stood up straight, his eyes looking straight at Dystopia, accepting his loss and quietly awaiting the oncoming attack.

Soon after, the blast was fired, completely encasing Salem into its power. Salem growled and groaned at the power of the blast until he was thrown back, spinning in the air a little bit and dragging across the ground a few inches after landing. Smoke rose from his body from where he was just hit, and he was now laying on his side, hissing from the pain as his Life Points finally fell to 0, signifying his defeat.

Malcolm looked to Dystopia and smiled a bit, nodding at him before the Monster, and the rest of the holograms on the Field, slowly disappeared. Malcolm walked over to where Salem now laid on the ground. "Game, set and match. This duel is over, Salem." Salem didn't say anything at first, remaining in place, as if he didn't hear Malcolm.

The first ones to react were the thugs who had been watching the duel as well, as they began to walk forward until they were right in front of Malcolm, being in between him and Salem. "You… you ungrateful little bastard. First you leave our boss after all he's done for you, and now you have the nerve to beat him?" the first one snarled.

The second one nodded in agreement and cracked his knuckles. "Seems like you've really forgotten your place, punk. Allow us to give you a reminder." Malcolm gave a little growl. He had just gotten through a tough duel, and now he was going to have to get into a scrap just to make it out of that alleyway.

"Don't lay a finger on him, you idiots." The command from Salem caught both of the thugs off guard. They looked over at Salem and watched as he was slowly standing up. Not wanting to get on his bad side, they both slowly stepped to the side, parting ways so Malcolm and Salem could look at each other.

"...Well… I don't like to admit it…" Salem started. "...But a duel is a duel, and you beat me fair and square… even if you had to have somebody else's help in order to beat me."

Malcolm thought about what to say for a few seconds before giving a sigh. "...Yes… I did need somebody's help in order to get through this… if I didn't have that card given to me, you would have won this duel for sure… but having the help of someone else doesn't make someone weaker, just because they weren't able to do something on their own."

Malcolm paused for a moment, taking some more time to think about what it was he wanted to say, what he wanted Salem to take away from his words. "...There are always going to be such events in life that someone can't do on their own. That's not because someone is weak. That's just how things are… but there are also many people out there who can help… who are willing to help… and I've learned that true strength doesn't come from foolish pride, and being too stubborn to see that… it comes from admitting you can't do everything on your own… it's about being able to ask for help when you need it."

Salem was silent himself before sighing and shaking his head. "...And… these people who you think want to help… who you get close to… what if they're only in it for their own gain?" he asked as he crossed his arms. "Everyone out there is just trying to get something done for themselves, not others… I would have thought that learning the truth about your parents would have taught you that lesson."

"There will always be people like that… no matter where you go or who you are, people like that will always be there... " Malcolm sighed and looked down. "...If what you told me about my parents is true… then they were, unfortunately, two of those people… who would happily drop someone if it benefited them in any way… in that same light, I don't need them… I've already got others who do care for me… who would stand up for me, even if it didn't benefit them in any way."

Malcolm took the Copycat card that was still on his duel disk and showed it to Salem. "Take a look, Salem… this card, the one that allowed me to defeat you… this was given to me by Jason, the one that you and your thugs attacked yesterday… he gave me this days before our rematch was supposed to happen. He had no logical reason to do so. If anything, giving me a card like this would actively hurt his chances at winning that rematch… but he gave it to me as a sign of our friendship… even if I didn't quite understand it back then…"

Salem looked at the Copycat card silently. A card given to Malcolm, not as a payment or a bribe, but as a token of friendship… something that Salem had always taught him would be impossible from anyone…

"...I'm not going to stand around and try to change your mind about everything… whatever happened to you that led you to your principles, I doubt I'll be able to persuade you to drop them…" Malcolm started as he put all of his cards back into his Deck. "...I just want you to understand that I've found my strength in a different way… it may not be yours… but it's the way that will work for me." He turned around and began to walk away, believing the conversation to be done.

"...Wait." Malcolm came to a stop as Salem said this, turning his head to look at Salem again. "...It… doesn't seem fair that you should have been given a card by that kid, and not give anything to him in return." He took a card out of his pocket and handed it to Malcolm. "Here… maybe this will suffice."

Malcolm took the card and looked at it. At first, he was going to give it back, not seeing the hidden meaning Salem was putting into giving him the card. When he turned it around and saw what card it was, however, he decided against that, staring at it silently before looking back at Salem.

"...Maybe your way of finding strength isn't the way that I taught you… and I sure as Hell don't approve of it… but you found it for yourself… and maybe you're all the stronger for it." Salem gave a little bit of a smile. "...Maybe one day we'll run into each other again… not as enemies… but… well… you know."

Malcolm gave just a slight smile. He would have preferred it if Salem would have swallowed his pride just to say that one word, but he knew what he was saying. "...I would like that." he said.

Salem gave a nod and turned around, starting to walk deeper into the Dark Alleyway of Nightmare. "Come on, you two… time to get going. The duel's over." The two thugs looked at each other in surprise, but began to follow behind Salem quickly.

"So… he beat you… and he defied your teachings… and you're just going to let him go?" one of the thugs asked as they followed.

Salem gave a little sigh and closed his eyes. "...Malcolm has found his own way in life… found a good group of people for himself… it may not be what I taught him… but it's all I could have ever wanted for him being out on his own…"

The other thug gave a little nervous chuckle and began to twiddle his thumbs a bit in nervousness at what he was about to ask. "So… since Malcolm taught you about appreciating friends and all that… does that mean you'll treat us better now too?"

"Y-yeah. Maybe with a pay raise, or some cool cards of our own?"

Salem opened his eyes in response, his voice agitated as he answered them with, "Don't push your luck."

As he watched Salem and the other thugs walk away, Malcolm looked down at the card that he was given, staring at it for quite some time. The significance of having the card given to Jason… was it to signify something in Salem, or Malcolm…? Should he even tell him who it was that gave him the card…?

These thoughts were in Malcolm's mind as he turned around and headed for the exit from which he came from. "Let's get going… we're done here." he said to Carrie and Frederick as he walked past.

The ride back to the hospital, to let Jason know of what had happened, was just as silent as the others. But this time, it wasn't from nervousness or uncertainty. It was a silence as all three of them took in the emotions of what had just happened. Happiness, excitement, pride… all of them were in all three of them.

Once they were back at the hospital, the entire room was filled with an ecstatic feel. Malcolm was standing by the door, leaning against the wall, and Carrie sitting on a chair in the room while Malcolm was sitting on the hospital bed with Jason, recounting the entire thing to him.

"And then Dystopia fired a blast directly at him for the game! You should have seen him! He was going to the ground, all like, 'AAAAAAAAHH'!" Frederick jovily recalled to Jason. "He got completely hammered by that last blast from Dystopia! You should have seen it, man. It was awesome."

Jason gave a little chuckle. "I definitely would have, if I wasn't so well tied here." he said as he looked to Malcolm with a smile. "But I'm just really glad that you were able to win that duel… especially when it meant you actually put that card in your Deck after all."

Malcolm gave a little shrug, but smiled a bit as he spoke. "Well… I figured that it might be usable in my Deck, if I couldn't get Dystopia out on my Field in time… guess it also worked for when someone would attempt to take it from me."

"You were lucky to have had that card. If Jason wasn't such a pal, you would have easily lost that battle." Carrie commented before smirking a bit and shrugging. "But then… I suppose that Salem was lucky you insisted on taking him on yourself. If I had dueled him myself, I probably would have had him pissing himself in the first two turns."

Malcolm paused for a few seconds before snickering as he raised his eyebrow. "Pissing himself, huh?" he repeated. "Yeah. Sure. Maybe pissing himself in laughter at the cute cheerleader girls that are trying to be all threatening."

"Oh, screw you." Carrie responded with a little giggle, her words coming out more jokingly instead of hostile. This caused everyone else in the room to have a good laugh. It only took a couple of seconds before Carrie joined in as well.

As their laughter slowly died down, Jason just smiled as he took in the scene around him. While he certainly wished it could have been under much better circumstances, it was nice to see all four of them in the same place together again. In a way, while it may have caused him to be stuck in the hospital for a few days, Jason could at least say that the experience brought the four closer in a weird way.

After a few more seconds of silence, Carrie looked at the time. "Oh… well, we should probably let you rest before they kick us all out of here."

Frederick nodded. "Yeah. I guess we should. See you later, Jason. Can't wait until you're out of here." With that, the two of them walked out of the room, leaving only Jason and Malcolm in there.

After a few seconds of silence, Malcolm picked up a bag of fast food that was sitting beside his foot and brought it over to Jason. "Here… figured you probably wouldn't want to get stuck with nothing but hospital food, so I got you this on the way here."

Jason smiled as he took the bag and set it beside him on the bed. "Thanks, man… congratulations again on your win. Glad to see Dystopia gets to stay with you."

Malcolm gave a smile and a nod before looking back at the clock. "...Well… guess I should be going to…" he said as he started to make his way to the door. Before leaving, however, he looked over to Jason and said one more thing. "...Get better soon, Jason… you still owe me a rematch, after all."

Jason watched as Malcolm left, closing the door behind him. Once again, he was all alone in the hospital room. Though it was nice to have had his friends over, even if they weren't able to stay for very long.

With his stomach growling a little bit, he reached into the bag that Malcolm had left for him and began to feel around for what all was in there. It was going to be annoying to eat with only one of his arms able to be used, but he would be able to manage.

While feeling around in the bag, however, he felt something that he wouldn't have expected to be in there. It felt like a fold card of some sorts. When Jason grabbed it and lifted it out of the bag, it was just that. It seemed completely blank on the front, aside from the words, "From Mal" written in black sharpie.

Jason slowly opened the card to find a Duel Monsters card face-down, taped to the left side of the card with just one single piece of tape. Along with that, there was a single word written on the right side: "Thanks".

It took Jason about a minute to finally peel the tape off to get a look at the card, but when he flipped it over, he saw that it was a Change of Heart Spell Card.

He stared at the card silently for a second before smiling. Closing his eyes a little bit, he put the Change of Heart and the card that it came in to the night stand. He was glad everything was able to work out in the end. The only thing that was left for him to do was hang tight, and wait to be released from the hospital.

For the rest of the night, he just relaxed with his food and his laptop. For the moment, he could just take it easy, without so much as a care in the world.


End file.
